Double Played
by Split Illusion
Summary: "It's possible then? I mean, we can do this…right?" "Some people believe six impossible things before breakfast, but for now I'll be satisfied with believing one possible thing after dinner." Alice and Riku are dismayed when their parents inform them that they are moving the family to Japan, but they know how to cope: tennis. OC centric, ripe with canon, UNDER REVISION
1. Impossibly Possible

Summary: When twins, Alice and Riku Ikuma, found out that they were moving to Japan, they knew that there was only one way they could deal with it: tennis. The result: Yamabuki Chuu, meet your new doubles pair. Everyone else... look out.

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~The Splits

**Chapter One**

Impossibly Possible

Ring-ring! Ring-ring! Ring-! A woman looked up from her work, an irritated frown puckering her lips, "Why am I the only one that ever answers the phone in this house? Is it really that hard?" she mumbled to herself, setting down her pen and picking up the object of her frustration.

"Hello? This is the Ikuma household…hmm? Of course, I'll go get him right away." Mrs. Ikuma set the phone down lightly on her desk and stared at it for a minute, irritation forgotten. The caller was her husband's father, and she didn't think that she had ever heard him sound quite so… strained. Normally, he sounded very brisk and business like whenever he called. She sighed and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. "Staring at the phone isn't going to solve anything." She murmured while mentally telling herself that her daughter had simply rubbed off on her and that she didn't have anything to worry about by talking aloud to herself. Mrs. Ikuma sighed and stood up and, grabbing the phone, went to find her husband.

"Dear!" Mrs. Ikuma called as she walked out of her office, holding her hand over the receiver end of the phone. Walking down the hall she called for her husband without receiving an answer until she reached his study and found the door shut. Knocking gently against the wood she waited for her husband to answer before opening the door. Looking in, she found him buried by a mound of paperwork sitting on his desk. He looked flustered and worn out as he ran a hand through his once neat, dark brown hair. Seeing his wife at his door, Mr. Ikuma smiled tiredly. She was always a welcome distraction from his seemingly endless workload.

"Yes dear? What is it?"

"The phone-it's for you." She replied, holding it out towards him.

Mr. Ikuma's smile disappeared as he groaned a little, imagining more work for him to do; which was the last thing he wanted. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asked his wife; "Can it wait? I'm really busy right now trying to get this deal to go through." Exasperation laced his voiced as he turned his attention away from his wife and back to his desk. He sifted through the papers there, looking for one in particular. As CEO of the European branch of Ikuma Sporting Goods, which was based out of Italy, Mr. Ikuma often spent hours a day filling out tedious amounts of paperwork when a deal was on the rocks, which said nothing about the amount of paperwork he had to wade through once the deal was actually made. Finally locating the paper he was looking for, Mr. Ikuma made a noise of triumph and immediately began reading over it.

"It's your father on the phone dear. I'm afraid it can't wait. He says it's very urgent." Mrs. Ikuma said apologetically as she stepped into the room to hand the phone over.

"What?" Mr. Ikuma looked up at his wife, a frown furrowing his brows. "I hope he's finally calling to answer those questions I had about this deal we're trying to pull through..." Getting up and taking the phone from his wife, he walked back to his desk so he could jot down whatever he needed to, seeing as his father was the founder and owner of Ikuma Sporting Goods. Leaving her husband to his work, Mrs. Ikuma returned to her office where she had been tending to her own work; she was the partial owner, with her three sisters, of a big business that planned events for the rich and famous. On her way back, she passed the living room where her two fourteen-year-old children were finishing up a game of chess that they had started before dinner. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that Alice was winning. As usual.

"Who was on the phone, Mom? An ex- boyfriend who still can't accept the fact that you're married?" Riku joked, looking up from the board, happy to have a distraction from his impending loss.

"Of course not." Mrs. Ikuma chided with a smile. Riku could be such a jokester. "It was your Sofu. He needed to talk to your dad about the business."

"Ah." Riku said, pulling a face. "That's worse than actually being called by an old boyfriend, if you ask me."

"Antonio!" Mrs. Ikuma scolded. She was the only one in the immediate family to call Riku by his Italian name. "Just because you don't like your Sofu doesn't mean you can say things like that about him. He is a very responsible and hardworking man. He doesn't deserve such things being said about him by his own grandson."

"Sorry Mom." Riku replied with an exaggerated sigh. "I know Sofu is responsible, hardworking, and boring, okay?"

"Antonio." Mrs. Ikuma sighed in resignation, placing her palm against her cheek.

"You know you love me." Her son replied with a grin.

"And you're lucky I do or I'd feed you to a jabberwocky when I got the chance." Mrs. Ikuma replied with mock seriousness, hands on her hips.

"Oh yeah, and where are you going to find one of those? Don't tell me you're going to try and follow Alice down the rabbit hole." Riku laughed as he glanced at his twin who was too absorbed in the game to notice their conversation. Typical Alice.

"Who knows? Maybe I've been keeping one in the backyard all this time and just haven't told you about it."

"Yeah right Mom, and how does Dad not know about this pet you've been keeping?" Riku replied with a roll of his eyes. Looking each other in the eyes it only took a moment before the two of them were laughing together. At the sound of her husband's voice calling for her, Mrs. Ikuma pulled herself together.

"Be right there dear." She called back. "I'd wish you good luck Antonio, but I doubt it'll do you much good against Alice."

"It's the thought that counts. Nobody in their right mind can even hope to beat Alice." Riku called after his mom as she walked back down the hall.

"Are you talking to yourself Riku? That's the first sign of insanity you know, and going insane now isn't going to help you beat me." Alice said looking up from having moved her rook.

"Well look who decided to climb out the rabbit's hole." Riku joked as he looked at Alice's move. "And for your information I was talking to Mom, not myself. She was here just a minute ago."

Eyeing the board, Riku moved his black bishop only to look up and see his sister smirking, a wicked gleam in her eye. Riku knew his fate was sealed. Several moves later found his king being knocked over by Alice's queen as she triumphantly declared, "Off with your head!"

Groaning at having lost again, but not actually upset with the familiar outcome, Riku began picking up the black pieces and putting them back in the box while Alice cleaned up the white ones. When he was finished, Riku stood up and ran his hand through his short red hair, which he liked to spike forward-a habit that he'd picked up from his dad.

"So what do you want to do now Alice? I'm not playing chess again."

Smiling, Alice replied, "I know I miss a lot brother, but I got the fact that we weren't playing again by the whole putting away the game pieces thing." She smirked at her brother before turning to look out the window, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"It's still light outside. Why don't we go play some tennis? Maybe we can find some new people to play against at the courts tonight. Hopefully someone not too boring…" Riku smiled slightly, knowing that it was unlikely to find anyone new to play if they went to the exclusive tennis courts that were part of a sports center owned by the company their dad worked for, like they always did. If anything, though, it was always fun to play singles against his sister opposed to the mixed doubles that they usually played together.

"Why not? I'll go grab our stuff. Don't take any trips to Wonderland while I'm gone, Alice, or I might just leave without you."

"Riku." Alice threatened.

"Kid-ding." Riku chuckled, sending an exaggerated wink his sister's way. Walking out of the room, leaving Alice to put away the chess set, he headed down the hall until he reached the stairs that would lead to their rooms. He'd only gone up a handful of steps when his mom's head poked out of the study his dad used for his work.

"Antonio?" Riku looked back towards his mom, a questioning look on his face.

"What's up?"

"Could you go get Alice? Your dad has something he needs to discuss with the family." Nodding, Riku came back down the stairs and retraced his steps along the hall to the living room. Alice had put the chess game away and was now staring out the window from the couch, a blank expression on her face. Grinning at the perfect opportunity to mess with his sister, Riku snuck up behind her and tapped her on the left shoulder before swiftly dropping to his knees behind the couch. Alice swiveled her head to look, but nothing was there. Turning suspiciously back towards the window, Alice nearly fell off the couch in surprise when a pillow hit her in the face accompanied by a shout from Riku; "Attack!"

"Riku!" Alice shrieked throwing the pillow back at him, but she missed because he had doubled over with laughter.

"Haha, you should have seen your face Alice. Man I wish I had a camera right then."

"You'll pay for that!" Alice grabbing the other pillow off the couch. Jumping to her feet she ran over to Riku and began hitting him repeatedly with it. After a couple of hits Riku grabbed onto the pillow and pulled it from Alice's grasp.

"I'd like to survive this battle, thank you very much." Riku laughed as he threw the pillow back on the couch.

"You're the one that started it. Here I thought you'd gone to get our tennis stuff and instead you come back and attack me. By the way, where _is_ our tennis stuff? We were going to go play tennis, right? Did you forget to grab it Riku? That is not very like you. Perhaps you're taking after me more? That'd be problematic. If we were both forgetful, neither of us would ever remember anything and-" Alice rambled on until Riku finally cut her off.

"I was going to grab our stuff, but Mom asked me to come and get you. Apparently Dad wants to talk all of us in his study, so we need to go do that first."

"Talk about what?" Alice asked putting the other pillow back on the couch.

"I dunno, but Mom sounded pretty serious when she asked me to grab you, so it must be something important." Glancing over at Alice, Riku lifted his hand to point at her head. "You need to fix your headband again. It's about to fall off."

Looking up, Alice found several locks of her chin length red hair hanging in her face instead of being held back like they were supposed to be. Pulling off her small, stretchy sports headband that she always wore, Alice slipped it back over her head and around her neck. Brushing her hair back quickly with her hand, Alice secured it back in place with the headband, patting it once she looked to Riku who nodded in approval.

"Much better." Alice smiled at him and was about to comment when her mom's voice sounded from down the hall.

"Alice, Antonio?"

"Coming Mom." Riku called back. Bowing with mock elegance he indicated that Alice should go first. As she passed him, Riku slid his foot out and tripped her before taking off down the hall laughing. Irritated, Alice chased after him, nearly crashing into him where he'd come to a sudden stop in front of the study, his face one of bewilderment. Stepping around her brother so she could see into the room, Alice felt her eyes widen. Their dad had his head in his hands as he rested his elbows on the desk while their mom stood behind him with her hands placed on his shoulders, lightly massaging him in a comforting way. Standing at the doorway in hesitation, all fun and games forgotten, Alice and Riku stared in shock as their dad took his hands away from his face to look at them. Tears were swimming in his eyes and his cheeks had traces of tears that had been wiped away-a sight neither of them had seen before.

"Come in you two. I have some sad news to tell you." Mr. Ikuma said as Alice and Riku came and took the seats on the other side of his desk, both of them fidgeting slightly in the solemn silence. "I just got off the phone with your Sofu, and I hate to say it but…my brother…your oji-" He paused for a moment, clearing his throat and bowing his head before continuing. "Your oji has unfortunately passed away last night. You know that he was battling cancer, and last night…" Silence met his words as Alice and Riku stared at him, speechless, not really comprehending what he'd just said.

"You know, this joke isn't very funny Dad." Riku said, trying to force out a weak laugh. "The punch line is just terrible."

"Riku," Mr. Ikuma said sternly, "this isn't a joke. I know it's hard to accept, but it's the truth." Riku opened his mouth to reply, but shut it without making a sound. He didn't really have anything to say, and a joke right now would just land him in hot water.

"There's more news I'm afraid." Mr. Ikuma continued. "Not only do I need to go to Japan for the funeral, but your Sofu has asked that I come back and run the Japanese branch of the company." He stared down at Riku and Alice, pressing upon them the importance of what he was saying. "He's getting too old to do it himself and he'd rather have me come back than try and find someone else to fill your oji's position. Your mother and I will have to talk about it in more detail, but, at this point, I want you two to know that it's almost sure our family will be moving to Japan to fulfill your Sofu's request."

The twins continued to stare at their father for a moment before glancing at each other uneasily. This just couldn't be happening. Alice was the first to speak. "What would be the point of you going to Japan? If you left, Sofu would just have to find a replacement for the Italian branch anyway…" She trailed off, staring at her father imploringly, trying to tell him with her eyes that this was absolutely unacceptable.

Mr. Ikuma sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry Suzume, but The Japanese branch is the more important of the two branches, and as such, your Sofu will give that branch priority." Just like Mrs. Ikuma had taken to calling both of the twins by their Italian first names, Mr. Ikuma called both of his children by their Japanese middle names. "You're correct that we'll have to find a replacement either way, but we feel that my experience is what is needed in Japan, and a replacement will have to be found to take the position that I am in now." Alice frowned at her father, noticing the shift of him saying "your Sofu" to simply using "we". She knew that when he made this shift, the decision was final. No more arguments would be appreciated from her. She nodded at her dad and reached over to grip her brother's hand, a silent apology for not succeeding. Usually she could wrap their dad around her little finger and get him to agree to whatever she wanted, but not this time.

Riku squeezed her hand back, his head bowed in acceptance. He wasn't happy with the situation, but there was nothing he could do and he knew it. It seems that the Ikuma family would be moving back to their dad's homeland of Japan, and away from Italy which served as a homeland to both the twins and their mother.

*%%*

Alice and Riku stared out Riku's window from his bed, their idea to play tennis completely forgotten. After their father had dismissed them from his study so that he and Mrs. Ikuma could talk more, the twins had immediately set off to Riku's room, where they always went when they were going to have a serious conversation.

In previous conversations that had taken place in Riku's room, one of the twins always knew how to start. This time; however, neither twin knew what to say. They were, unescapably, moving to Japan, a place they associated negatively with their grandparent's, on their dad's side, their Sofu and Sobo.

Alice and Riku's Japanese grandparents were the typical traditional rich business owners that people generally associated with older Japanese men and women, and every time the twins went to visit, their time was filled with etiquette lessons, dance lessons, piano lessons, business lessons for Riku, and, for Alice, tea parties along with other 'flowering socialites'. None of this had helped endear the land to the two novice tennis players. The only good thing about Japan had been their oji, but now he was gone.

"…Riku?" Riku snapped out of his thoughts at his sister's worried whisper.

"Yeah?"

"I can barely find my way around here without getting lost or sidetracked…" Alice swallowed down tears, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them, her arms hugging her shins. "What are we going to do in Japan?"

Riku stared over at his sister, concern painting his features. She wasn't exaggerating. Alice was smart, almost a genius when it came to planning. All of their friends called her the chess master, and a chess master she was. She even held the title in Italy for Junior Chess Master to prove it. But chess wasn't all she used her brilliant mind to strategize in. Alice had a way of planning strategies in tennis. She could, amazingly, pick apart her opponent and counter their strategies with her own without having ever played them or seen them play before.

Alice's strategy brilliance was a double edged gift, though. His mom had once said that "Alice is brilliant, yes, but to have room for all of that brilliance in her head, she had to leave something behind." And boy did she leave something behind. Alice had troubled staying grounded in the here and now. She'd often zone out when she wasn't paying enough attention and would start planning anything and everything. Her concentration for things that she wasn't particularly interested in was low. Worryingly low.

Their dad had taken her to doctors when she was younger, but after a while, all the doctors would inevitably come to the same conclusion: there was nothing wrong with Alice, she just had problems concentrating. And if she forgot things often, it's because she wasn't paying enough attention in the first place. Because of the redundancy of going to more doctors just to hear the same thing, and because Alice herself wasn't suffering or unhappy, their dad had dropped it.

Now, though, they were moving away from a familiar place where Alice could zone out and feel comfortable, and Riku was worried. Not because he was overly protective of her, but because he was the one that had to live and deal with her on a daily basis. If Alice was having a rough time it meant that, without a doubt, he too would not be enjoying life.

He dropped an arm around his sister's shoulders, "It's going to be alrigh-"

"No!" Alice leapt from the bed and slapped the window with both her hands, ignoring the sting that came from it. "It's not going to be alright! How is this _alright_? We're _moving_. To _Japan_. I don't know if you remember or not, but we _hate_ going to Japan! We-"

"Alice."

"-hate all the stuffy rich people and the etiquette and-"

"Alice!"

"-the _tea_ parties! I hate them! And Sofu and Sobo are _horrible_-"

"Alice Suzume Ikuma!"

"- and they don't let me play tennis and we won't see Nonna and Nonno and I just-"

Becoming irritated with his sister, who usually ignored just about everybody _but_ him, Riku jumped up off the bed. Grabbing Alice by the shoulders he spun her around to make her pay attention to him, but at the sight of the tears in her eyes he instead pulled her into a big bear hug.

"It _is_ going to be alright, Alice!" Riku said as much to reassure himself as to comfort her. "Mom and Dad and I, we're all going to be there for you. And you'll have new friends before you know it! Nothing's going to happen." Riku continued to try and comfort his sister as she cried, rubbing her back and stroking her hair awkwardly. It wasn't always easy being the boy out of the two of them. "It's going to be _fine _Alice. Just fine. You hear me?"

Alice sniffed and stepped away from her brother, looking up at him to meet his eyes, as he was two inches taller than her. "_How_? How will things be fine? I don't want useless comforting words!"

"Then what _do_ you want Alice?" Riku said, throwing up his arms in exasperation. Turning suddenly, he strode over to his desk and pounded his fist against its surface. "I may be your twin, but I am _not_ a mind reader. I hate this just as much as you do, but I can't just magically make things happen the way we want them to." Whirling, Riku glared at Alice. "You really want to know what we can do about this Alice? Absolutely noth-"

"I just want a _plan_!" Alice cut in; her voice was frantic as her hands flew up to tug at her hair, her tawny eyes wide in frustration and panic as she stared into Riku's identical eyes.

Breathing out slowly to somewhat regain his composure, Riku finally nodded. "Alright, then we'll come up with a plan." Pulling out the chair from his desk Riku collapsed into it, bouncing his leg up and down quickly in agitation. Across the room Alice flopped back down onto the bed. Staring up at her brother's ceiling, tracing the plaster lines as if hoping for inspiration to appear, Alice sighed. "A plan." She murmured. A tense, contemplative silence fell over the two.

Breathing deeply Alice worked to reign in her panic, knowing that it wasn't helping her or Riku. She had to come up with a plan of some sort, because Riku was absolutely horrible at coming up with one this far ahead of things. It wasn't exactly fair for her to ask him to come up with a plan. He was better at making it up as he went and adjusting accordingly. Change didn't affect him nearly as bad as it did her.

"School just ended…" Riku looked up from his examination of his carpet to his sister. "School just ended here," she continued, "but I remember that school in Japan doesn't end for another couple months. They have that weird year-round schedule thing…" Alice stood up and once again went to the window, this time placing her hands gently on the glass. She looked out over the yard and garden to the familiar sight of the neighbors' homes. She'd have to leave it all behind. It just didn't seem right when she'd lived here all her life.

"We won't move for a while yet, though dad will probably head out immediately for the funeral and to take over the company as soon as possible. We'll be left here with mom to pack everything." She paused, pursing her lips, and, turning to her brother, she continued, "We'll have maybe a month or so to get to know the area and our neighbors…"

Seeing that Alice had pulled herself back together Riku relaxed slightly in his chair. She always thought best when she was calm. From experience he knew that right now it was best to let her talk through and figure things out while he just listened. In just a couple of minutes she'd created a satisfactory plan without any help from him at all.

"We could probably go explore the school as well, get to know the layout of it on weekends when they have their break. Then we could find the nearest tennis courts…" Alice trailed off, looking to Riku to see what he thought of the idea. From where he sat Riku nodded once.

"It's possible then? I mean, we can do this…right?" Alice inquired of her brother, willing to accept comfort now that a plan was somewhat laid out.

Resting his arms back against the edge of his desk Riku smirked at his sister. "Some people believe six impossible things before breakfast, but for now I'll be satisfied with believing one possible thing after dinner."

* * *

><p><span>Japanese to English dictionary<span>:

Sofu: Grandfather

Sobo: Grandmother

Oji: Uncle

Italian to English dictionary:

Nonno: Grandpa

Nonna: Grandma


	2. Family Breakdown

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~The Splits

**Chapter Two**

Family Breakdown

He had brown hair. It was a dull brown, and gray seemed to be waging war on it, slowly taking over. He was also balding, Alice noticed, balding and gray, how horrid. She sighed, wondering if the airport security could take longer. They could add more of it, she was sure, but to make it longer… the perfect form of torture. Too bad America had dibs on that 'no cruel and unusual punishment' thing.

The feeling of a hand grabbing hers brought Alice back to the present situation- stuck in a long line that would eventually lead to the plane that would take them to Japan, a place she had cursed many a time.

Riku was pulling her along again as the line moved. Honestly, it's not like she would get lost while standing in a line…well, maybe…if she really wasn't paying attention. But she was paying attention. Maybe not to him, but the guy in front of her had an interesting situation going on on the back of his head; after all, it wasn't often she saw hair in the middle of a war so if he stepped forward, she would follow. She idly wondered if she could set up a situation to see if Riku's hair would look as interesting.

Feeling Alice's eyes on the back of his head, Riku turned slightly to give her a weird look before shrugging and playing it off as Alice being Alice. At the sound of his mother's voice, Riku realized it was his turn to pass through the metal detector. He gave the thing a mean look, wondering if it would beep for him like it usually did. Honestly he suspected Alice of slipping something in his pockets or his shoe or _something_, but he could never catch her and inevitably, the stupid beeping would go off anyway.

Riku slowly stepped through after slipping his shoes off and putting them with his carry-on-bag. He heaved a sigh of relief as the metal detector remained silent and gathered his stuff, valiantly ignoring the amused look Alice sent him. Why that girl could pay attention when it came to messing with him, but no other time, he didn't know.

Once all three of them were through and had their things Riku and Alice followed their mother as she led the way through the airport to their terminal. On the way Alice began to walk in the wrong direction, following the man that had been in front of them in line, so Riku had to chase her down and drag her back. This -this was the Alice everyone knew, never paying attention and always wondering off. People simply didn't know what it was like to be apart of her experiments on human nature, or whatever she called it. Why she had to know how people reacted to something she did, he didn't want to know, but it certainly made his twin hard to live with.

"You kids have your passports still, right?" Riku only just barley refrained from rolling his eyes at his mom, they had made this trip every summer twice, once to Japan and once back, since they were five. He was almost insulted that she still had to ask the same questions that she did every time.

"Yup!" And of course Alice gave the same response that she always did, answering for both of them. Riku slumped slightly, watching the back of his mother's heals. This felt so… routine, like nothing had changed since the last summer they left to Japan, like nothing would be different. But Riku knew that despite this surreal normality, everything had changed.

*%%*

"Try to cheer up," Mrs. Ikuma said to her children as they collapsed into their seats. Riku had claimed the one by the window so he could look at something other than his family. He was so tired of his mom trying to cheer them up, even though he knew that wasn't really being fair to her, he couldn't help it. He didn't _want_ to be cheered up.

"How am I supposed to cheer up when I'm being forced into something I don't want to do?" Riku mumbled. Catching her son's words with her sensitive ears, Mrs. Ikuma frowned. She didn't appreciate the tone in his voice.

"Antonio." She warned. Riku reluctantly turned away from the window, catching site of his sister staring up at the overhead TV, already away in her own little world, before turning completely toward his mom, who had chosen the aisle seat.

"I know you aren't happy with your dad's and my decision to move to Japan-" she gracefully ignored his indignant huff and continued on. "-but you're going to have to get used to the idea. You too Alice." Alice started at her name, turning away from the prerecorded flight attendant giving safety instructions, and toward her mom.

"Me too what?" She asked, perplexed. Mrs. Ikuma spared her only daughter a stern glance.

"You and Riku need to get over this childish notion that you can change what is happening to this family by acting out. Its not going to work and you're just making things harder for, not only yourselves, but your father too." She stared at her kids, trying to get them to understand what she was saying. "Your father just lost his big brother, and your Sofu has asked him to come back to Japan to be closer to family. How do you think that your attitudes lately have affected him? Do you think he feels good about picking up and moving his family?"

Alice stared up at her mother in awe. That was the singularly best and most affective guilt trip she had ever heard. Riku; however, didn't seem to feel it the way she did.

"Dad isn't the only one who lost Oji-san, we lost him too you know!" Riku fired back. He didn't care if he was going to get it anymore. He was sick of just holding his feelings in and doing what his parents said. "You're saying to think about Dad's feelings, but we have feelings too."

"Umm, I'm not sure I want to be a part of this," Alice interjected. Glaring at her Riku continued without hesitation. Alice might make him pay later, but that was later and this was now.

"We're leaving behind our school, our friends, the house we grew up in, Nonno, Nonna, your family, and Uncle! The only thing we're taking with us is each other-"

"And _that's_ hardly a comfort." Alice murmured.

"-and our tennis, but tennis will never be the same without Uncle around to teach us. You say we should try to understand Dad's feelings, but you should try and understand ours too. We might only be kids, but we have things that are important to us just like you, but I _suppose _you wouldn't remember that because it's been _ages_ since _you _were young."

Alice gaped. That… was unexpected. And suicidal. Briefly a picture entered her mind of the bedroom that they usually fought over staying in at Oji's house. Logically she knew that only one person could have that room while they lived in that house, and Riku had just guaranteed that she would be the winner, because Mrs. Ikuma certainly wasn't one to let someone live for insulting her age. She wondered what it would be like to go to her twin's funeral… but she shook that thought off and turned her attention back to the drama unfolding. _This_ was better than reality television.

Observing her mother, Alice thought that she had never looked more cold. Her back had straightened to the point that it hurt her own just looking, and a black aura seemed to surround her. She didn't glare, though, and nothing in her facial features seemed to suggest that she was actually angry. Alice idly compared it to watching a character go down the dark stairs in the beginning of a horror movie; nothing really suggests that it would be a bad idea, but everyone knew that that character would be the first one to be killed off.

"Antonio Riku Ikuma." Three words, Alice mused, that spelled her brother's death. "How _dare_ you speak to me that way? _How dare you_?"

Riku gulped, sliding down his seat and looking away from his mother's piercing eyes, muttering a small, but heartfelt, apology. If the plane hadn't already taken off he would have seriously considered jumping out the window to save his life. All his anger seemed to have faded away at the appearance of his mother's cold fury. This is the perfect example showing that Alice was so much better at planning ahead than him. How many times had he done or said something only to realize later that he shouldn't have? Too many to count. To make matters worse, this time he'd foolishly wandered into the ultimate forbidden territory by insulting his mother's age. The only thing she was more insecure about than her looks was her age, and he'd dared to call her old. What had he been thinking? More like: why hadn't he bothered to think in the first place?

"So who is going to teach us tennis?" Glancing at his sister in relief, Riku knew he would owe her one later for saving him from his impending doom. Alice smirked at her brother, before turning her full attention to her mother. He had gotten the message and it was dangerous to turn her attention from her mother while she was still defusing.

"You know, since Uncle isn't coming with us and all?" Alice continued, making sure she sounded innocent and slightly dazed. Couldn't let her mother know she was saving her brother on purpose. Mrs. Ikuma slowly relaxed back into her seat, releasing a frustrated sigh and answering her daughter.

"Your father has it taken care of."

Alice ignored Riku's irritated sigh at their mother's vague answer, glad that he wasn't actually saying anything anymore; even she could only do so much.

"Do we know this instructor at all?" Alice observed the small, almost imperceptible smirk that curved her mother's lips, wondering.

"Oh, you've met them once or twice." And everything clicked. Alice rolled her eyes and turned to stare at the ugly blue upholstery on the chair in front of her. Why couldn't people make puzzles at least somewhat hard to figure out? She wanted a challenge, and here's for hoping that she would find one in Japan.

*%%*

"It's odd… that Oji-san isn't here." Riku murmured. Alice nodded her agreement as she glanced around what she could see of the house. She and Riku exchanged looks before finally stepping inside. Their dad hadn't had time to really unpack before they arrived so taped up boxes were scattered all over the place.

The two navigated through the living room past the teetering stacks of boxes, making their way toward the staircase, both teens intent on finding the rooms they would claim for themselves, when a voice from what they knew to be the kitchen startled them from their missions.

"You two aren't going to walk by without coming to say "hi" to your Uncle, are you?" Riku and Alice both shouted in excitement and sprinted for the kitchen. They easily avoided the boxes and jabbed their elbows into the other, trying and reach the voice first.

Riku finally pulled ahead of his sister and reached the kitchen door first and threw it open. He didn't waste a second before pouncing on the man that had stretched his arms open, ready for the tackle-hug.

"Uncle!" Uncle laughed a deep belly laugh and ruffled Riku's hair, winking at the beaming Alice.

"Hello to you too Antonio. Alice." Having met the twins in Italy, and being Italian himself, Uncle was one of the few that called Riku by his Italian name.

"Hello Uncle." Alice greeted, running into his arms as soon as Riku stepped away. Even though she had guessed that the tennis instructor their mother had been hinting at on the plane was Uncle, it was a different feeling just guessing it and seeing him in the flesh. She stepped back and observed the man, he had gotten his hair cut, and was wearing dirt stained pants. The man wasn't really their uncle, but Alice and Riku had known him for so long, and he had always been friends with their parents, that when they were younger they had simply dubbed him 'Uncle'.

"What are you doing here Uncle? How long have you been here?" Riku exclaimed, excited at seeing his uncle figure, but confused as he had thought he was still in Italy.

Uncle laughed again, releasing Alice as he did so. "Your parents snagged me after one of our lessons a couple months ago, explaining to me about the big move. They invited me along with the nice temptation of free board in the guest house here as long as I would continue to teach you two tennis." Uncle smirked at the two twins. "Surprise!"

Riku gaped for a moment, before spinning to glare at his parents who had just come through the door. "Why didn't you tell me? You know I hate surprises!"

"Mom didn't seem to be willing to impart with that information to you when we asked about him for reasons I simply cannot fathom," Riku winced at the sarcasm as he shot his mom a quick look, hoping she had forgotten about her being mad at him, "which meant that she also wouldn't tell me. So I, being the genius I am, figured it out from just two sentences." Alice smirked over at him, answering before her parents could, arms crossed over her chest.

"You _knew_?" Riku demanded.

Alice laughed, losing the smug demeanor. "I figured it out on the plane. Remember when I asked about Uncle? I thought it was quite obvious…" Alice laughed again at the glare Riku threw her, satisfied at one-upping her brother.

"Traitor." Riku murmured, turning his baleful gaze from his laughing sister to his smirking parents and Uncle. "All of you." This caused both his parents and uncle to join his sister in laughing. Riku glared at them for a moment before sighing, throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation.

"You're all impossible." He exclaimed, but could no longer keep a wide grin from nearly splitting his face. This was the first time he had seen his family together and truly happy since the news of his oji-san's death had reached them. It was hard not to let their infectious moods cheer his.

Alice flounced over to her brother and threw her arm over his shoulder, still laughing. "You love us anyway." She practically shouted in his ear, her eyes sparkling. Riku shrugged her arm off, but didn't disagree with her. He just continued to beam at his chuckling parents and pseudo uncle, easily ignoring his sister after years of practice doing so.

Mr. Ikuma cleared his throat and smiled down at his two beaming children. "You two can go pick out your rooms now." He held up his hand, forestalling their stampede. "After come get some money from your mother or me, then you two can go explore for a bit. But I want you back before dark." Casting a serious look on his rapidly nodding children, Mr. Ikuma smiled again and let them go, making sure that he stepped well out of their way.

Alice and Riku practically sprinted from the kitchen and up the stairs, both heading for one room. It was the room that they both shared when they visited their oji-san, and the biggest bedroom aside from the master bedroom, which they both correctly assumed their parents would take. Normally the two twins would take turns having the room, but this time it was for keeps, and they both wanted it. The two reached the door at the same time and glared at each other.

"I call it!" They shouted at the same time, glares boring into identical tawny eyes. The staring contest continued for a few minutes before Riku smirked at his sister.

"Play you for it." He said tauntingly. Alice smirked back at her brother, a calculating gleam in her eyes.

"Deal."

*%%*

"Man." Riku sighed. "It looks like all the courts are full. We'll have to wait for one to open up before we can play." He and Alice had just finished wandering around the street courts that their dad had given them directions to. "Do you want to pick a match to watch while we wait Alice?" Riku asked over his shoulder, only to find Alice wasn't there. "Alice?" Riku said turning around in a full circle. "Oh, this is just great." Riku muttered to himself. "We haven't even been gone half an hour and I've already lost her. Well, she can't be _too_ far away." Taking a couple minutes to retrace his steps Riku saw a familiar redhead standing to the side of one of the matches. Walking up behind her, Riku could hear her whispering to herself.

"That shot was just terrible. He should have hit it over to the side and then…"

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity ya know." Riku said using Alice's shoulder as an arm rest. Shrugging off her brother Alice didn't even bother to glance at him.

"You do it too. Anyways, did you see that shot just now Riku?"

"No, because I was too busy finding my sister who wandered off without telling me." Riku replied dryly, looking up from his sister to the match that was being played. The two boys that were playing weren't too bad. As one of the boys hit a cross court shot Riku narrowed his eyes. "That idiot. The side was wide open; he should have hit that down the line."

"A slice drop shot wouldn't have been bad either with his opponent pinned at the baseline like that." Alice added.

"True." Riku said with a nod of his head, watching as the boy on the left hit the ball into the net. "Any idea what the game count is?" He asked as the boy on the right called out the point score of 40-15 before serving.

"No idea, and that serve needed way better placement than that to be effective." The two continued commenting on the match for another game before Riku looked past the match to find another court had opened up.

"Hey Alice, that court over there is free. Let's go. If we don't start soon Dad may call before we finish." Pulling her eyes from the match Alice nodded. Picking up her tennis bag, which she had placed on the ground, she followed after Riku. When they reached the open court they both took a seat on the courtside bench. Setting his bag on the ground Riku bent over to retie his shoes. When he was done he pulled out his silver racket with black grip tape and stood up. Alice was already waiting for him by the net with her dark purple racket that had white grip tape.

"Rough or smooth?" Alice asked placing the head of her racket against the ground.

"Rough." Riku called as Alice spun her racket. It spun rapidly several times before slowing down and tipping to one side. The racket fell against the court with a small clatter.

"It's rough." Alice said picking her racket back up. "What do you want to do?"

"I'll serve." Riku replied tapping his pocket which held three tennis balls. "Which side do you want?"

"I'll take the left." Alice replied after looking at the sky for a moment. Without another word the two glared at each other for a moment, knowing what was on the line with this match, before walking to their positions. Standing just behind the baseline Riku bounced the ball a few times before catching it. Taking a moment he double checked his grip and the position of his feet. Satisfied, Riku looked up and noted Alice's position, standing midway between the alley and centerline just behind the baseline. Picking a spot to serve to, Riku called the score.

"Game count: love all." Bouncing the ball once more, Riku caught it and tossed it up into the air, slightly in front of him while at the same time bringing his racket up and back. Watching as the ball lost to gravity and began its fall back down, Riku brought his arm up and stepped through as he made contact, making sure to bring his racket all the way through, which naturally brought him into a ready position.

The ball sped over the net, hitting close to the alley line about halfway down the service box. Running up, Alice connected with the ball, sending back a decent forehand several feet to Riku's left. Chasing it down, Riku used a two-handed backhand to send the ball back in a deep, cross court shot with plenty of topspin. As he followed through, Riku began running for the net. Alice managed to catch the ball towards the edge of her racket, and get it back over only for Riku to put it away with a swift forehand volley. "Don't think I'll let you get away with that again." Alice said, throwing a look over her shoulder at Riku before making her way back to fall into a receiving position on the other half of the baseline.

"Yeah, yeah." Riku smirked. This is what he needed, a good tennis match to make him forget, even just temporarily, that he was in Japan. "Fifteen-love." Riku called as he tossed the ball up and served. The ball hit next to the centerline-on the wrong side. Alice held up her pointer finger, an indication that the shot was out. Nodding, Riku pulled out a second ball from his pocket. "Second serve." he called after bouncing it a couple times. Tossing the ball up, Riku adjusted slightly for his second serve. Hitting the ball, Riku sent it safely into Alice's court, close to the center of the service box. Taking the serve, Alice hit a sharp forehand down the line. Running, Riku hit the ball with the edge of his frame. The ball flew up into the air and came down just on his side of the net. "So close." Walking up to the net, Riku retrieved the ball by trapping it between his foot and racket before lifting it up into the air.

"Ball." Alice called as she lightly hit over the ball from Riku's first serve.

"Got it." Riku said as he caught the ball and pocketed it before returning to the baseline to serve again.

"Fifteen-all." The next couple of points consisted of longer rallies, but Riku ended up taking the first game from a position of 40-30. Since they'd played an odd number of games, the two traded court sides. As they passed the bench, Alice took a quick drink from her water bottle before accepting the balls from Riku and putting two of the three in her skort. "This next game is mine." she said as she walked off, bouncing the last ball up and down on her racket. Not bothering to rush, she set up behind the baseline and prepared to serve.

"Game count: love-one." she called. Noting Riku's position, she tossed the ball up into the air. Coming down on it, Alice sent it towards the outside corner. Returning the ball with a deep forehand back to her, Riku took up a position at the middle of the baseline. For the next couple shots, Alice continued to hit them deep from side-to-side, making Riku run. Then, when Riku had started standing just a little bit farther behind the baseline than normal, Alice hit a short approach shot that barely cleared the net before beginning to drop. Sprinting up from the baseline, Riku was just a second too late as the ball took its second bounce just out of his reach. Gritting his teeth, Riku hit the ball over to Alice.

"Hate to say it, but mean shot."

"Don't you mean nice? It was a _nice_ shot." Alice said teasingly as she stopped the ball with her racket.

"Nah, I'll admit it was good a shot, but it was definitely _not_ a nice one-for me at least." Riku replied, a faint smirk toying at his lips as he fell into a ready position behind the baseline. Eyes glinting playfully, Alice sent her next serve zipping down the center, just nicking the line as it went. Grimacing as he returned it with a soft backhand straight to her, Riku tried to reset for Alice's next shot -which was a sharply angled forehand to his right. The ball popped weakly off his racket, and was put away with a well placed overhead from Alice that landed miles from where Riku was.

"Playing like that already?" Riku asked calmly as he rested his racket on his shoulder. "A bit early for that, don't you think?" He joked as he set up to receive the next serve.

"Are you questioning my judgment? I should have you beheaded." Alice replied in fake indignation as she flicked her hair back with her hand. "In fact, this game will be the beginning of your execution." She said as she served quickly, using a lower toss, effectively catching Riku off guard. He barley managed to connect with the ball, and it never came close to making it back over the net as it flew almost straight up into the air. After the ball bounced, Riku threw Alice a challenging look as a dangerous smirk crept onto his face. It was on. Fighting back, Riku won the next two points in a row making it 30-30 before Alice used her precision to steal the next two points and take the game.

Hitting the balls over to Riku, Alice fixed the gut on her racket as she fell into a ready position. Watching Riku prepare to serve, Alice gripped her racket securely. Riku's form when he served and just when he played in general was very unorthodox so that even Alice, who'd played him countless times, couldn't tell for sure what was coming next. Watching closely for any hint as to where the ball may go as Riku tossed it up, Alice's eyes widened as the ball left his racket with a heavy slice spin causing it change direction drastically.

Just after it passed the net, the ball turned right instead of continuing straight on, and hit close to the outside line, bouncing straight out to the side. Scrambling, Alice reached the ball and returned it with a surprisingly steady crosscourt forehand, but Riku was there and waiting. She could only watch as he drew his racket back and hit a forehand down the line. While his accuracy wasn't as good as hers, it wasn't bad by any means and after luring her so far out on the right side there was no way she could make it to the other side to reach the ball, not with her speed. Throwing her brother a look, Alice returned to the baseline. This, like always when Riku introduced his spin, had not only gotten harder, but more interesting. Perfect.

Both of them held their serves until the sixth game where Riku broke Alice's, making the game score 4-2 in his favor. Not about to be outdone though, Alice broke Riku's service game in the seventh game to make the score 4-3 for Riku. By now, they were both sweating and were feeling tired, partially thanks to jet lag and the six hour time difference between Italy and Japan. During the change over the twins sat down on the bench and pulled out their water bottles. Uncle always stressed staying properly hydrated before, during, and after matches. Neither twin said anything until a ringing sound started to come from Riku's black tennis bag.

Alice looked at Riku in question. "Must be Dad." Riku said looking up at the sky filled with the colors of the sun setting. He hadn't realized it had gotten so late while they were playing. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his phone and checked the caller ID. "Yeah, it's him." Flipping open his phone, Riku answered it. "Hey Dad. What's up?"

"Where are you two? It's almost dark out."

"We're at the tennis courts."

"Well, I'm sorry if you are in the middle of a match or whatever, but you need to come home now." Riku glanced over at Alice. She wouldn't be happy stopping when he was ahead, especially when the flow of the match had returned to her because she broke his service and took the last game.

"Hey Dad, I'm going to put you on speaker phone so you can tell Alice yourself."

"Ah," Mr. Ikuma said understandingly. "You're winning, aren't you? I can't blame you for not wanting to tell her yourself, especially since you're playing for your bedrooms right now." Mr. Ikuma had long ago gotten used to his children using competitions to decide just about everything. It was rather amusing for him as he often had to play judge to make sure the competitions were fair. "Go right ahead and throw me on speaker." Pulling his phone away from his ear, Riku hit the speaker phone button. "Am I on speaker now?" Mr. Ikuma asked.

"Yeah Dad, you're good." Riku replied, holding the phone between him and Alice so they could both hear.

"Alright. Are you there Suzume?"

Alice glared at the phone, knowing where this was heading. "I'm here." –she made sure her voice sounded short and clipped. She definitely knew where this was going, and she knew how to use it to her advantage.

"Good. Now, I just told your brother this, and I know you won't be happy, but you two need to come home now. And I don't mean finish what you're doing and then come home. I mean right now, no arguments. Do you understand?"

"Yes Dad." Alice turned her glare to her brother.

"That's my girl. Now, I'll expect you two to be home in ten to fifteen minutes. I'll see you when you get back."

"Got it." The twins answered in sync, Alice sounding a little more snappish than her brother, before Riku flipped his phone shut. Slipping his phone into his pocket, Riku began putting his racket and the balls away. Standing up, Riku grabbed his tennis bag and put it over his shoulder before picking up his water bottle. Riku began walking toward the gates to get back out to the sidewalk when he heard his sister clear her throat from behind him.

"You are such a coward." Alice glared at her brother's back, almost enjoying the way his muscles tensed up. "Did you really think I would get that upset? Angry even, over an unfinished tennis match? So little trust, Brother?" Alice slowly stood up, slipping her bag over her shoulder and she made sure her shoulder pushed her brother's as she stalked passed him. "Making Dad tell me to come home, really?" She walked out of the tennis courts and headed toward the house, ignoring her brother's following steps, and suppressing a smile as she walked on, plans running through her head.

"Left, not right." Alice immediately changed direction, sneering at her brother as she brushed passed him again.

"Don't talk to me." She made sure her voice was snappish and tense. She had to make sure that her brother stayed behind her on the way back to the house because according to the rules that they had made up when they were younger, since neither had technically won the match, whatever they were playing for became up for grabs and whoever reached it first got it. And this time they were playing for the better bedroom, something she really wanted.

Riku; however, wanted the room just as badly as she did and, unfortunately, was the faster of the two of them. So she had to resort to more… underhand ways of winning. So if she had to pretend to be mad at her brother to keep him behind her and preoccupied with her apparent anger, so be it. As long as she had a better chance at reaching the room first.

Riku exhaled a breath of relief as soon as the house came into view. The walk home from the tennis courts had been filled with a silence riddled with tension. His sister really needed to stop taking things so seriously. He stared at his sister's back –she still refused to walk beside him, and wondered if the new surroundings had been what set her off. Maybe the humid Japanese air had made her more snappish?

Riku stopped walking to watch his sister practically jog up to the house, now that he thought about it, his spacey twin had been pretty concentrated the whole walk home. Normally by now she was over whatever had made her angry. In fact, by now, she would have normally forgotten that something had made her angry in the first place. He stared in growing horror as his sister slid the door open to the house and practically sprinted around the corner and out of his sight toward the stairs. He managed a quick glance toward the window that belonged to the bedroom they were supposed to be playing for, before he sprinted after his sister; practically hopeless about getting the room but sure that he had to give it one more try. Alice might have a head start, but he _was_ the faster twin.

Riku pushed as fast as he could, flying passed the front door and skidding around the corner. He flung his tennis bag toward the couch and, not checking to see if it landed, raced up the stairs three at a time. He made it down the hall just as Alice was shutting the bedroom door. She poked her head out and smiled at him, a triumphant gleam in her eye and a smug smile twisting her lips.

"Sorry about the trust thing Riku, but I _really_ wanted this room." Riku stared, panting, as she then shut the door.

*%%*

Mr. Ikuma, Mrs. Ikuma, and Uncle all stopped what they were saying as the front door slid open with a bang and a flash of red hair flew through the living room and up the stairs. They watched from the kitchen table, stunned, as seconds later a second flash of red hair raced by, proceeded by a thump and a crash. The adults shared a look before Mrs. Ikuma finally stood and walked hesitatingly into the living room.

She looked around for a moment before finding the source of the crashing noise. There, by the couch, was her son's tennis bag. He had apparently thrown it while he was running. It seemed that it had landed on the couch before bouncing off and hitting the box that had been sitting in front of it.

The bag had hit the box with enough force to tip the opened box. Inside the box, before it had tipped, had been a china dining set that her parents had given her when she had first married. Now that dining set lay in expensive pieces around her living room carpet. Mrs. Ikuma took a deep breath before letting it out, frustration racing through her blood.

"Antonio Riku Ikuma. Alice Suzume Ikuma. Get down here. _Now._" She didn't yell, but her voice carried throughout the entire house anyway.

Mr. Ikuma and Uncle exchanged looks before deciding that Mrs. Ikuma had things covered and that they weren't needed. They stood simultaneously and made their way to the back door, both set on looking through the gardens for things they would need to fix it up. Never mind the fact that they had already done so when they had first arrived.

* * *

><p><span>Japanese to English dictionary<span>:

Sofu: Grandfather

Sobo: Grandmother

Oji: Uncle

Italian to English dictionary:

Nonno: Grandpa

Nonna: Grandma

Tennis glossary:

**Alley**: The narrow lane on either side of the court. In singles the alleys are out, but in doubles they are in.

**Changing court rules**: In tennis the players will switch which half of the court they are on every time an odd number of games have been played.

Ex: After the first game they will change sides, but after the second game they stay put. When the third game is done they would change sides again, back to the side they started on, and so forth until the match is over.

* * *

><p>Hey all! This is chapter 2~ Thanks sooo much to Rainbowlalaland for being our first (and only) reviewer. We also want to say thanks to those who favorited and alerted to this story, we really appreciate it. Buuuut we aren't going to actually put your names down until you review :P.<p>

Well, we finally added some tennis. Tell us what you think! We also really want to hear your opinion on Alice and Riku. Do you like/dislike them, and why~ Thanks a lot!

~The Splits


	3. Yamabuki Chuu

For all disclaimers, warnings, and other information about this story, please visit **our** profile. Thanks a bunch.

Reviews are super nice, we love them. Flames are funny, we love them too.

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~The Splits

**Chapter Three**

Yamabuki Chuu

Alice and Riku stared up at their Uncle with wide eyes, begging him to agree to their -well, Alice's, plan.

"Let me get this straight, little midgets." Uncle ignored Riku's and Alice's mirth at the nickname as he continued to outline the plan that they, Alice, had presented him. "You want me to go to your mother, your scary, Italian, bad tempered mother, and tell her that as your punishment for running through the house like heathens and breaking-"

"Riku broke it." Alice interrupted, "I'm just stuck with the same punishment for 'bringing the game inside the house.'" Uncle stared down at the little red hair girl in amusement. Alice's tone had been completely bland and apathetic, a sure sign that told those who knew her that she truly didn't care about her punishment or the reasons behind it. What a weird kid.

He huffed out a laugh before shaking his head, continuing from where Alice had cut him off. "Okay, why you got your punishment aside, you still want me to tell your mother, and let me reiterate here, your _scary_ mother, that as punishment from breaking her china dining set you two get to come with me for a tennis lesson, something that you love to do? Doesn't sound like much of a punishment to me."

"It is if it leaves us drop dead tired, sore, and unwilling to move. Plus, if we we're that tired we wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble -which would make Mom even angrier at us." Riku added nonchalantly. Alice was the one who wanted out of their original punishment while he honestly didn't care, but if he didn't try and help convince Uncle to 'save' them, Alice would get back at him for it later, and some of the stuff she had on him...

Uncle laughed again, shaking his head. "And just what, might I ask, will get your mother to agree to this?" He stared at Alice, knowing that Riku wouldn't know how to manipulate his mother like little Alice could. To be fair, Riku could now and again be pretty sly with his words, but compared to Alice and her constant twisting of words... amazing, what that girl could pull out of her hat sometimes…

"Mom's stressed." Alice started out, leaning back against the wall behind her, placing her palms flat against her thighs -her manipulating pose, as Riku called it.

The two twins had had to wake up earlier than they normally would so that they could corner Uncle before he reached the house to help their mother with breakfast. Uncle, as per the agreement he and their parents made, had moved into the guest house that was just behind the actual house. "She's had to deal with Oji's death, Dad's grief, her _own_ grief, _our _grief, Sofu commanding us to move to Japan quite against our will-" here Uncle coughed, still not quite used to the kid's disrespectful way of speaking about their paternal grandparents. "-and Riku and I acting out for the past couple of months to show our displeasure at the idea of coming here. Breaking her china was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. She's upset, sure, but really she just wants us out of her hair for a while. To calm down and de-stress a little." Here Alice paused, rolling her eyes. "Mom didn't even _like_ that china. So yes, we can spend how ever many hours out here working in the gardens, but she knows that both Riku and I kill any plant we touch-"

"I do not!" Alice stared her brother down; trying to mentally tell him that now wasn't the time to defend his pride. Riku really wasn't all that great at taking care of plants, but he tried to from time-to-time to grow something unsuccessfully. Unlike Alice, he didn't have a hatred for gardening, but he wasn't really enthralled by it either. It was more like the plants held a hatred for him, and besides the plants refusal to cooperate with him, gardening was just gardening to him. Nothing more, nothing less; although, he would admit that he'd take a day of tennis over a day of gardening any day.

"As I was saying," Alice glared at her brother a little more before turning back to Uncle. "We could spend days out here and it would probably look worse than it does now. Or you can do her a favor and take us away from the house for a day or two for a couple of hard tennis lessons. Trust me, she'll agree."

Uncle stared down at the girl for a moment before closing his eyes and running his hand through his hair. "Sometimes I forget how smart you are, little Alice." Uncle stared down at the girl in bemusement, "Perhaps, if you want to fit in, you could try sounding more your age? You _know_ your only fourteen, right?"

Alice snorted, staring up at her uncle wryly. "That's not quite the point, Uncle."

The man sighed and turned away from the two teens, pacing away a few steps before turning back, a smile playing on his lips. "All right you little troublemakers. I'll speak to your mother before breakfast is served. You two better run along now, in case she scents out your involvement in this." The two nodded before turning away, walking around the house to get back to the front door.

Uncle stared after them in bemusement. "Precocious little kids…"

*%%*

"You're _sure_ Mom will go for it Alice? It seems a bit farfetched to me."

Alice nodded absentmindedly from her position on his bed. She traced the lines in his ceiling with her eyes like she used to back in Italy, finding the intricate patterns hidden there. After their mom had scolded them for breaking her china and handed out her punishment last night, she had sent them and Mr. Ikuma up to their rooms to start setting everything up. So far they had all their basic furniture laid out and now all they needed to do was start unpacking their clothes and nick-knacks, so unopened boxes still littered the house.

Riku rolled his eyes at his sister, moving a box that was sitting on his desk chair so that he could sit in it. Alice was back in Wonderland, which meant she thought that her job here in reality was done and it was A-Okay for her to space out again. And while this was slightly annoying for Riku, seeing as the girl was on his bed, it also meant that Alice really was confident that their mom would agree to the idea of them having long tennis lessons as a punishment.

"Cool." He murmured to himself, happier than he was willing to admit that he wouldn't be doing any gardening. He really did suck at it…

-Knock-knock-

Riku stared at the door for a moment, before shrugging and going to answer it.

"Hey kiddo."

"Oh. Hey Uncle. What's up?" Riku tried to keep his hope out of his voice, but knew he failed when his uncle laughed and ruffled his hair.

Uncle leaned against the door frame, his arms folded. "Your mom sent me up here to tell you that there's a change of plan involving your punishments." He smirked down at the boy, a twinkle in his eyes. "Immediately after breakfast you two are coming with me, where we will then have a grueling, back-breaking tennis practice. Proceeding this practice I get to come back here and help your father and mother unpack; meanwhile, you two will be sent to explore the city with express instruction not to lose each other." Uncle turned a speculative look toward Riku's twin, almost rolling his eyes at her dazed out look as she stared at the ceiling. "Especially Alice," He tacked on.

Riku let out a whoop of excitement, spinning in a circle with his hand clenched in a fist above his head. He then let out a yell of surprise when he tripped over a foot. He looked up from his sprawled position on the floor to glare at his laughing sister.

"Told you," Was all she said. The two siblings glared at each other for a moment before Uncle cleared his throat. Honestly, the atmosphere between the twins was bipolar as far as he was concerned; the way it could instantly go from good to bad and sometimes back again or even to indifference in the blink of an eye still befuddled him.

Once their attention was on him, he continued. "I've also been sent up here to tell you two that breakfast is ready. So get going." He gestured for them to leave the room. Alice was the first to obey, leaving her brother's room with a skip in her step and a kiss to her uncle's cheek, who in turn ruffled her hair.

Riku stayed on the floor for a moment, glaring after his sister, irritated, before he snapped out of his mood when a hand appeared in front of his face. He followed the hand up to his uncle's smiling face.

Uncle pulled the boy up to his feet and, once he was up, swung an arm around his shoulders, leading him out of the room. "Don't let your sister get to ya. You know how she is." Riku sighed and nodded, walking down the stairs and to the kitchen with his uncle.

"Yeah, I know. Doesn't make her any easier to deal with…" Uncle just laughed and squeezed the boy's shoulder before taking his place at the table, leaving Riku to grudgingly sit next to his twin.

Breakfast was a family tradition in the Ikuma household. Mrs. Ikuma would make breakfast, with Uncle helping when he was around, and would proceed to wake her husband and kids when she was finished. The family would then sit and talk about what they were going to do for the day and about anything else that popped into their heads. Today; however, breakfast was filled with yawning. Mrs. Ikuma, Riku, and Alice were all jet lagged and were trying to adjust to the different time zone while their bodies were telling them that it was in the middle of the night and that they should be asleep. Mr. Ikuma and Uncle were simply used to getting up later since they had been alone for the last couple of weeks and hadn't bothered with breakfast before starting their days.

Once everyone had woken up a bit more and had cleaned their plates they washed up. Alice and Riku were about to go get dressed for tennis practice when Mrs. Ikuma gestured for them to sit down again.

Mrs. Ikuma looked at her children intently, studying their wary expressions. "Did your uncle tell you about your new punishments?" The two children nodded. "Good. Now, normally I wouldn't change my mind once it was made, but your uncle made a good point about getting you two out of the house, but also away from the gardens, which you'll surely destroy. Your uncle has promised me that you will go through whatever he has planned for the next couple of days without a complaint. Can you do that?" Once again the two children nodded.

"Good." She said again. "He has reassured me that he will make these next tennis lessons the hardest you two have ever been through, to make it a proper punishment." Mrs. Ikuma leaned back into her chair, eyes still on her children. "Your father and I have also made some calls and have gotten you registered at Yamabuki Chuu. The headmaster there is a man called Takamatsu Shinichirou." Here she slid a map of the area to Riku. The map had a pathway traced from their house to what appeared to be Yamabuki, and another path from what Riku knew to be his father's company's sport's facility, which included the tennis courts, to the same place. "He expects you two in his office today before it closes at 3:30. You will head there after your tennis practice and lunch. I expect you to pay utmost attention and respect to Headmaster Takamatsu-san. After your meeting he has permitted you to explore the school and its grounds. After _that_, you can spend the rest of your day exploring the city. Your father and I will expect you to both have your cell phones with you," here she stared pointedly at Alice until the girl nodded, "and you _will_ be home, without any reminders, at five o'clock for dinner. Are we clear?"

"Unescapably." Riku immediately winced under his mom's glare. "Ahem, I mean, yes ma'am." Mrs. Ikuma smirked at her children, standing up. Playing the bad cop on the odd occasion could be so much fun.

"Well, it's already six in the morning. You two have a long day today, so scat and go get ready."

Alice and Riku were immediately on their feet and out of the room, anxious to get out from under their mother's watchful stare.

Mrs. Ikuma turned to Uncle, her expression softening and amusement coloring her features. "So, I never did get the chance to ask you when you started taking orders from the children."

Uncle scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, offering a smile to the amused women. "Now you know I normally wouldn't, but I would do almost anything to get those children away from the gardens, and apparently Alice knows that, what with her bringing up dying plants. I mean, who knows what disasters they would cause?" Uncle shuddered lightly in horror, imagining just what the two terrors would do to the gardens. "Nothing good." He muttered.

Mrs. Ikuma giggled; covering her mouth with her hand, and Mr. Ikuma outright chuckled, clapping his long-time friend on the back. "Sometimes I forget how much you're obsessed with plants and gardening!" Mr. Ikuma exclaimed, laughs still escaping his mouth.

Uncle pouted slightly. "I'm not obsessed! I just have a healthy appreciation!" The adults all fell into laughter, the three of them recalling some of the more amusing incidents involving Uncle and his 'healthy appreciation'.

Mrs. Ikuma sighed and smiled at Uncle, laugh lines crinkling around her eyes. "I meant to ask you about that. We know that we kinda dragged you with us from Italy, and we figured we'd compensate you beyond just giving you the job of being Alice's and Antonio's tennis instructor." Mr. Ikuma waved off his friend's protests and continued where his wife left off.

"This isn't any sort of charity; we just figured we'd also offer you the job of being our gardener. We _all_ know you love gardening, and thought that you'd do just as nice a job as a professional gardener or landscaper. What do you say?"

Uncle stared at Mr. and Mrs. Ikuma, stunned. A smile slowly stretched across his lips and a happy laugh escaped. "Free board, tennis, and gardening? Oh, you know I can't turn down an offer like that!"

*%%*

"Alright you two," Uncle said as the twins set down their tennis bags. They went to pull out their rackets, but were stopped by Uncle. "You know my policy. Go do your warm-ups first. Make sure to do them extra well today. If you don't, you won't survive what I have in store for you for the rest of the day," he said with an unnerving smile. Glancing at each other the two nodded, and took off to start their warm up laps around the court. "By the way," Uncle called after them. "I want you to double your warm-up laps today." Groans came from the teenagers. Doing fifteen warm-up laps around the exterior of the fence surrounding the courts was annoying enough, but thirty? Hearing their groans Uncle smirked. "If you _both_ don't finish in less than fifteen minutes I'm tripling the rest of your warm-ups!"

"What?" Riku and Alice exclaimed, stopping in their tracks and turning around to face Uncle. If he tripled the rest of their warm-up they'd spend over an hour without even touching their rackets.

"I wouldn't stand there if I were you. Time's ticking ya know." Glancing at his watch Uncle nodded to himself. "You've already lost half a minute just standing around. Now you only have fourteen and a half minutes to finish your laps." Paling visibly, the twins took off running. They knew better than to waste more time arguing about it. Uncle might joke around about a lot of things, but when it came to tennis, he was always serious. As he watched his two students run around the courts, Uncle would call them out on things he didn't like.

"Stop running on your heels Alice-it's slowing you down. Run on your toes and the balls of your feet more. Antonio, stop shifting your weight as you run. You know how to keep your body balanced better than that, so do it already. Remember, bad practice off the courts turns into bad habits on the courts."

Taking a short break from watching them, Uncle looked at his watch and compared the time left with the number of laps remaining. Sighing, he shook his head. Riku would be able to make it with his speed, but Alice would fall short at this rate. Maybe if he told them how much time remained she could figure out a way to finish within the time limit, but it wasn't his style to do something like that, especially since this practice was supposed to serve as a punishment. Alice might have thought they got the better deal by turning practice into punishment, but Uncle was determined to make these next few practices the hardest ones they have ever had in their lives by a long shot.

Watching as the remaining time ran down to only a minute, Uncle looked up and called out to the twins, "I want both of you to sprint your remaining laps at full speed!" Instantly, both of them sped up and the difference between them in speed became blatantly obvious. Riku had already been ahead of Alice, but now he was close to lapping her.

Coming up behind Alice, Riku pushed his legs to go faster. Uncle knew how fast Riku was when he sprinted full out, and if he could tell Riku wasn't running full out now he'd pay for it later in the practice. Not even bothering to give Alice a glance Riku sped past her and kept running. He slowed slightly as he reached the corner so he didn't spill from trying to turn too fast before instantly going back up to full speed. Two laps to go.

*%%*

Panting heavily, Riku leaned over onto his knees having just finished his laps. "Don't lean over Toni." Uncle reprimanded. Toni was his nickname for Riku when Alice was out of earshot since she detested the name and wouldn't talk to Riku when he responded to it. "You'll give yourself side cramps doing that. I want you to stand straight and raise both hands high above your head while you go walk out your legs." Nodding, Riku walked off as Alice came in from finishing her laps. Uncle looked at his watch and sighed. Alice had come in over half a minute after Riku which put her well past the time limit. Telling Alice to go walk off the run like Riku, Uncle gave them a minute to get their breathing slowed down before talking to them again.

"Alright you two. Antonio, you finished your laps in fourteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds." A grin spread across Riku's face at his accomplishment before he realized what that meant. Alice had finished way after him and Uncle had said they both had to finish within the limit or… the grin disappeared from Riku's face almost as quickly as it got there. "Alice," Uncle continued having been amused by watching the change in Riku's facial expressions, "you finished with a time of fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds." Alice grimaced before sending Riku an apologetic look. If it was just her that had to triple the warm-up routine she wouldn't feel so bad, but Uncle's new rule made them both suffer.

"Now, like I said, _both_ of you needed to finish within the time limit or your warm-up routine would be tripled. Alice, since you didn't make it in time you'll be doing just that. I suggest you get started because we'll be here for a while." Nodding, the twins finished walking out their run and began to stretch.

Sitting on the ground, Alice stretched her legs out in front and tried to grab them. Her fingers were a few inches from reaching the tips of her shoes and her calves burned painfully. She really needed to work on stretching more to increase her flexibility. Glancing over, Alice saw Riku doing the same stretch, but his fingers were touching his shoes just barely.

"So it's three hundred reps of everything instead of one hundred, right?" Riku asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Alice sighed, "my bad. Uncle's never pulled the 'you both have to make it in time' rule before. He doesn't usually set a time limit either, for that matter."

"Well, this isn't a normal practice now is it?" Uncle said as he walked up behind Alice. "You're the one that turned your next few practices into punishments, and that's just what I plan to make them. I will say this though; there _is_ a method to my madness." Kneeling down, Uncle put his hands on Alice's back and lightly pushed, eliciting a groan of pain from her. "You really need to work on your lack of flexibility Alice. Now, as I was saying there is a reason for my new rule which I warn you, it's here to stay from now on." Both twins groaned, earning a smirk from Uncle.

"If you think about it, when one of you makes a mistake on the court it affects both of you since you're a doubles pair, so, from now on any mistakes you make off the court will affect both of you as well. This is to help strengthen you as a doubles pair, and to make you more aware of each other's weaknesses. This way, you'll be better prepared to help cover for each other out on the court and you'll want to make less mistakes because you'll be more aware of how it affects both of you." Nodding as they thought it over, Riku and Alice finished up their stretching before moving onto the three hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats waiting for them.

When they finally finished about fifty minutes later, the two were already feeling exhausted and sore even though they hadn't even touched their rackets yet. The entire time Uncle had been watching them to make sure they used the correct form so they didn't injure themselves, but it also meant that he made them go all the way down on the push-ups and squats. Collapsing on the ground next to their bags, Alice and Riku both grabbed for their waters.

"What, are you two tired already?" Uncle asked innocently as he walked up to them. "All you've done is warm-up. Finish getting your drinks, and grab your rackets. I want you to warm up your strokes for a few minutes and then we'll start on some drills I've been working on." Groaning, the twins put down their waters, pulled out their rackets, and stood up. Riku took a few balls from Uncle as they slowly made their way over to the court. Starting up close to the net to warm-up their volleys, the two worked their way back to the baseline over the course of several minutes. When he was satisfied that they were sufficiently warmed-up, Uncle called for them to stop and called them over to the side of the court. In his hands was a roll of masking tape.

"What's up with the tape Uncle?" Riku asked, eyeing it warily.

"This is for the first drill. I want the two of you to get on one side of the court while I divide the other half into sixteen equal squares using this tape." When he was done laying down the tape, Uncle met the twins at the net. "Okay, so this is how it works from here." Turning so he was facing the taped up half like the twins, Uncle held up his hand and pointed. "The box in the upper left corner there is box number one. Going right you have boxes two-four making up the rest of the row. The box right below number one is number five, and it goes across that row ending with eight. The pattern continues with all the boxes until you end with box number sixteen up here by the net on the far right. Make sense?" Both twins nodded.

"This is some sort of aiming drill isn't it Uncle." Alice stated as she looked at the tape squares.

"Right you are Alice. I'm going to stand back behind the baseline and feed balls to you guys. For now you'll both start back at the baseline and take turns going every other ball. I'll call out a box number and that's where I want you to hit it. Now, going with our new rule if one of you misses, you both have to give me ten push-ups, sit-ups, or squats with the _correct_ form. So, let's get started. Alice, you're up first."

Taking the basket full of balls that he'd brought, Uncle went to stand behind the tape covered court. Once Alice was in position and Riku was back against the fence, out of the way, Uncle fed the first ball. "Five." he called out as Alice took the ball with a forehand, and sent it towards the left where it hit close to the center of box number five. Uncle had expected as much. Alice had great accuracy. Happy with her shot, Alice smiled as she stepped back and Riku stepped forward, his fist tightening slightly on the handle of his racket. "Twelve." Uncle called as he hit to Riku's backhand. Grabbing his racket with both hands, Riku caught sight of his target in the corner of his eye as he swung through and hit the ball. It sailed over the net in the right direction, but Riku felt a sinking feeling in his gut. The ball was taking too long to drop. Sure enough, the ball hit the outside edge of box eight instead of box twelve like it was supposed to.

"And there's our first miss. Close Antonio, but in this drill close doesn't cut it." Uncle said with a bland face, but inside he was smiling sympathetically. Riku's control wasn't horrible by any means, but this drill would be a big struggle for him. "Okay, as I said," Uncle continued without skipping a beat, "you both owe me ten of something, so hurry up and get to it." Grimacing, Riku set his racket down and started doing push-ups while Alice chose to do sit-ups. The sweat on his forehead dripped down Riku's nose and fell to the court as he lowered his body towards the ground. This sucked. "All the way down Antonio." He heard Uncle call before forcing himself even lower so that his nose was mere centimeters from the ground. Yeah, this really sucked.

"You'd better not miss many more shots or I might kill you." Alice growled as she struggled to bring her body up into a sit-up. They were both already sore and exhausted from warming-up, so even doing just ten of something was torture.

"If you don't Uncle will." Riku grunted back. Gardening was beginning to sound like paradise.

*%%*

Dead. That's what Riku felt like, and he was sure being dead was a better option than this. Every muscle in his body ached; even muscles he didn't know existed until now. He and Alice were laying stomach up on the court gasping for air, and if he knew his twin at all, she was plotting ways to kill him for making so many mistakes.

After finishing the original drill which had resulted in lots of mistakes being made, more from Riku than Alice, Uncle had made them move into doubles positions while still aiming for specific numbered squares. Finally, he'd played them one-on-two where before each point he'd set a rule. For example one time they could only hit squares that were oddly numbered, and if they hit an even number square instead they lost the point and had to give Uncle ten of something. Even serves had to obey the rule. Riku wasn't sure just how many push-ups, sit-ups, and squats he'd done since they'd arrived, but he knew it was _way_ more than he'd ever done at one time before in his life, and he was feeling it. A lot. The past three hours had literally been torture. If it weren't for the fact that he'd go to prison for life, and if he screwed up Alice would make the rest of his life miserable, he'd kill her for getting their punishment changed from gardening to tennis.

"Good work you two." Uncle said as the twins slowly sat up. "Go ahead and put your things away and we'll call it good for the day, but expect this and even more again tomorrow." Groaning, Alice and Riku got up and put away their rackets. "I'll meet you at the car." Uncle said shouldering his own tennis bag and picking up the basket of balls they'd used for practice. Tiredly, Riku and Alice followed quite a ways behind him. As they were walking, they passed the other tennis courts, most of which were empty, but one had a boy with brown hair and an 'x' shaped scar on his temple practicing with his instructor. Alice and Riku stopped outside the fence for a minute to watch as the boy hit repeated rising shots.

"He's good." Riku stated; impressed by what he saw. The boy had the rising shot down perfectly.

"And he's a southpaw." Alice observed. She too was somewhat impressed by the boy's shots. After the boy hit another rising shot his coach called for a stop.

"Nice shots Yuuta. Let's call it for today."

"You're just saying that because you're my coach." Yuuta said as he went and grabbed his water.

"Well then, how about we say it too. Your rising shot is amazing." Alice called through the fence. Looking up, startled, the boy stared at them.

"Uh…thanks, I think, but who are you guys?" Yuuta said as he put his water back down.

"I'm Ikuma Riku, and this is my twin, Alice. Do you come here a lot?" Riku supplied before Alice got the chance. She threw him a quick look, but he ignored her. The boy's coach looked at the two of them sharply. He'd heard the owner's grandchildren had moved into the area, but to actually run into them…

"Yeah, I take all my lessons here." Yuuta said uncertainly as he recognized their last name. "Why?"

"We should play each other sometime." Riku said nonchalantly as he adjusted the strap to his tennis bag so it sat more comfortably on his shoulder. "Well, we need to get going, but it was nice meeting you. Oh, we never did catch your name." The boy seemed to tense slightly before speaking.

"I'm Fuji Yuuta."

"Oh, Cool. Well, maybe well see each other around here again. Keep your rising shot polished in case we get the chance to play each other." Riku said with a wave as he turned to leave.

"See ya." Alice called before following after Riku. As they turned the corner, she caught sight of a girl in brown sweats with short purple hair approaching…uh, what was his name again? Oh well, she could always ask him again later if they ever met. Before the courts went out of site behind a hedge Alice saw the two shaking hands. Maybe they were going to play a match? Not that it was her business anyways.

"Come on Alice." Riku said grabbing his sister's arm. "It's this way to Uncle's car -not that way. The faster we get to his car the faster we can go find somewhere to eat, and I don't know about you, but that…that thing that was thinly disguised as practice made me really hungry."

*%%*

Riku and Alice tiredly waved goodbye to their uncle, watching him drive away. He had dropped them off on the beginning of a street that he and their dad had apparently explored before they arrived. He had assured the kids that there were plenty of restaurants on the street that they could pick from. He also left them with a wallet full of money and programmed the local emergency numbers into their phones, "just in case." he had said.

The twins exchanged glances before starting down the road, Riku making sure to keep hold of Alice's hand. He really hated holding her hand like they were five again, but he knew that on a street like this, she was extremely likely to wander off and if he lost her his parents really would make him garden for the rest of summer, although after today's…practice…maybe that wouldn't be so bad? …No, he decided, that would be bad. Plants hated him, Alice hated plants, and combined it all equaled up to an unparalleled disaster. Maybe he could get just his punishment changed back to gardening? Nah…he wasn't that lucky, and it would be way too boring by himself.

The siblings wandered down the street, stopping in front of restaurants and peeking inside if they looked interesting before they moved on. They finally found a small sushi place that they agreed on called Kawamura Sushi. It seemed to be a small place, most likely a family owned business, but both Alice and Riku agreed that family owned places tended to be better than large chain restaurants.

They entered the small place and were immediately greeted by a man behind the sushi bar's counter.

"Hello, hello! Welcome to Kawamura Sushi! Please take a seat here at the bar or at one of the smaller tables! I'll have my son right out to bring you water and take your orders!" The twins traded bemused glances at the man's energetic greeting but smiled and nodded at him anyway. The looked around for a moment, looking at the different people scattered throughout the building before simultaneously deciding to sit at the bar, close to the back where it was a little less crowded.

Alice sat on the bar stool and immediately sighed in relief. She hadn't really let herself notice until now, but she was dead tired. Uncle's tennis lesson was brutal, and she was sure that as bad as she was feeling now, she would feel exponentially worse tomorrow. Where they'd have to do it again. Alice let out a groan and slumped over the bar, letting her forehead smack onto the hard wood. Her only consolation was that she had a bit more stamina than Riku, and so he was, most likely, a little worse off than she was at the moment.

"Um, e-excuse me?"

Riku rolled his eyes at his sister before turning to the boy who spoke, nearly groaning himself at the pain it caused. The boy in front of him was well muscled, but everything about his body language screamed 'shy and insecure'. From the similarities found between this boy and the man who had initially greeted them, it was no problem for Riku to deduce that this was the son spoken of.

"Yes?"

"Erm, hi." The boy awkwardly bowed, keeping the water in his hands steady. "I'm Kawamura Takashi, welcome! I have your water."

Riku smiled, amused by the shy boy. "Thank you Kawamura-san, I'm Ikuma Riku. Please, don't be insulted by my sister, Alice. She has the tendency to wander away from reality." Kawamura obviously didn't know how to take that, giving Riku a weird look and glancing uneasily at the girl that still had her head against the bar.

"Ahem, it's no problem Ikuma-san." Somehow what should have been a statement came out sounding like a question to Riku. Kawamura seemed to realize the same thing, if the blush that stole across his cheeks was any indicator. The brown-haired boy hurriedly set the water in front of the two, and then handed two menus to Riku, stealing another uncertain glance at the unresponsive Alice.

"I'll be back soon to take your orders." After bowing again Kawamura rushed away, leaving Riku to stare after him, a little confused at the abrupt, shy, behavior, but mostly amused. He shook his head and turned back around, nudging Alice.

"Come on sis, the white rabbit can wait for a minute." Alice mumbled something that even she didn't understand before sighing and straightening back up. She blinked at the glass of water in front of her.

"When did this get here?" She turned to her brother, an eyebrow raised in question and a finger pointing at the water glass. Riku just rolled his eyes.

"Two seconds ago with the owner's son, Kawamura Takashi-san."

Alice blinked rapidly, trying to remember, before giving up. "Did we get some menus too?" Riku nodded, handing her one before ignoring her in favor of pursuing his. Alice shrugged and opened the tri-folded, laminated menu, looking over its contents.

"What do I feel like eating today?" She muttered to herself, mentally crossing out food items as she read through the menu. Something light would probably be the smartest choice, what with the heavy workout they just had. She finally decided on a combination of Spring rolls and some California rolls. She set her menu down and twisted around on her stool, leaning back against the bar. She spent several minutes just watching the people eating there before a person, who must have been the waiter, came back with a writing pad and a pen in hand.

"Hello." She greeted cheerfully. "You must be…" Alice trailed off, not remembering the name her brother had told her. For that matter, she honestly didn't remember the name of the restaurant.

"Waiter-san." She finally decided on, beaming at the brown haired boy, idly wondering how the seemingly shy kid would react to the nick-name.

"Um, I suppose?" Alice laughed lightly at the response.

"Nice to meet you then, Waiter-san!" Waiter-san rubbed the back of his neck, a blush spreading across his cheeks. Alice grinned at his adorableness.

"You as well, Ikuma-san-" Alice cut him off before he could continue, pulling her camera out from her tennis bag that was beneath her feet.

"Do you mind if I take your picture?" She hurriedly continued before he could speak, "it's just that I have a horrible time remembering faces and names…" Alice trailed off, staring up at the shy boy imploringly. Waiter-san stared down at her for a moment, confusion written across his features, before he slowly nodded.

"Great!" Alice exclaimed. "Smile!" Before Waiter-san could actually follow her order, Alice snapped the camera in his face, immediately taking the photo out from a slot on the side. The camera was a slim purple one that was about six inches long. The reason was because the camera was a sticker camera, with the pictures immediately developing and coming out with a sticky back.

Alice pushed her camera back into her bag and took out her small notebook and pen. She opened to the first page and stuck the picture on it, writing beneath it 'Waiter-san.'

"Perfect. Thanks Waiter-san!" The poor boy obviously didn't know how to respond to the girl and blushed, once again rubbing the back of his neck.

"H-have you decided what you would like to order?" Alice nodded, spinning back around to pick up her menu.

"I'll have your combination dinner with Spring rolls and California rolls, please." Waiter-san nodded, writing her order down, before turning to her brother.

"What do you want, Riku?" Alice asked, saving the shy boy the trouble of speaking up. Riku glanced up from his menu, which he had been staring at in the vain hope to ignore his sister and her weirdness. Sparing a glance at his sister and Kawamura before looking back down, eyebrows furrowed, he finally gave the menu to Kawamura, slightly frustrated.

"_I'll have whatever she got._" He murmured, pointing at Alice. Kawamura made a confused sound in the back of his throat and Alice laughed.

"_You're speaking in Italian, brother._" She kindly informed him in the same language. Riku blinked in confusion, running the last sentence through his head, not picking out any language difference.

"_If you say so._" He murmured, giving his sister an odd look. "Sorry Kawamura-san. I said that I would get whatever Alice ordered." Kawamura nodded and, after writing the order down, left.

"Language confused much?" Alice asked teasingly. Riku glared at her before sighing and shrugging his shoulders.

"I didn't notice a difference." He admitted.

Alice nodded, giggling lightly. "You were definitely speaking in Italian." She told him. Riku stared at his sister for a moment, trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not, before shrugging again.

"I'll have to take your word for it." He murmured.

The two siblings sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. They continued in silence as they got their food and ate it, neither having much to say and both tired from their tennis practice. After finishing they paid their bill and left. Riku pulled out the map their parents gave him, and quickly found the new pathway Uncle had drawn from the street they were on to Yamabuki.

"Looks like it's going to be a long walk." He informed Alice, who wasn't even paying attention. She'd just snapped a photo of the store front and written down its name on the picture. Looks like they'd be coming back here to eat again if Alice was bothering to do that. The food had been really good though… sighing, Riku rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him as he led the way, looking down every once in a while to look at the map.

Several times while they were walking Alice began to panic and tell Riku they must be going the wrong way because it was taking too long to get there. Finally, she tried to take the map from Riku, but he didn't let go in time, so the map ripped in two leaving each twin with half of it. "Good going Alice." Riku said in frustration as he held his half of the map uselessly.

"You're the one that didn't let go in time." She retorted defensively as she glanced at her half of the map.

"Well you're the one that wouldn't trust me to get us there in the first place. I was doing just fine until you decided to grab the map." Riku said as his eye twitched in annoyance.

"But it's taking _way_ too long to get there. You must have made us take a wrong turn." Alice said as she tried to grab the other half of the map from Riku, but he held it away from her so she couldn't get to it.

"Alice. Listen. To. Me." Riku said, slowly saying each word as he caught his twin's eye and got her to stop going after his half of the map. "You're tired from practice. We both are." He added quickly as she went to protest. "We are also in Japan right now, and need I remind you that you had enough trouble learning your way around Italy? I know being here puts you on edge and makes you more likely to panic, but I need you to trust me here alright?" Riku said calmly as if he was talking to a little kid.

"Stop talking to me like that!" Alice snapped. "I'm not a little kid Riku. I don't need to be patronized."

"Okay, okay. Whatever." Riku said holding up his hands. "Just give me back the other half of the map, and I promise I'll get us to Yamabuki safe and sound. Okay?" He asked as he stared down his sister. He was done playing Mr. Nice Guy. Finally blinking, Alice glared at him before huffily giving him back her half of the map. "Thanks." He said sarcastically as he smoothed the wrinkles out of the two halves of the map and held them together to see where they were supposed to go from here.

*%%*

"Almost there." Riku said about half an hour later. It was a good thing Alice was bad at holding grudges or the last half of the walk would have been horrible. Luckily, they both realized the other just needed a little space and they were fine now after having walked in relative silence as each of them cooled off their tempers. He looked up from the map, startled as Alice began laughing. He turned to her, ready to defend himself from whatever she was about to tease him for, when he noticed she was pointing ahead of them at something. He followed her finger and blinked at the imposing building in front of them.

They were standing in front of a red brick gate that enclosed the grounds around the building. Written in stone inlay was _Yamabuki Chuu._

"Found it." Alice said cheerfully, bumping her brother's shoulder. Riku rolled his eyes good naturedly at his twin and started up the path that led to the front doors of the school. He'd told her that he'd get them here safe and sound, but he didn't say "I told you so" in case it would set Alice off again which would in turn set him off again.

"We've made it just in time too," Riku opted to say instead as he pulled out his phone to check the time, "it's about two o'clock now, so we'll have about an hour to get everything settled and explore a bit."

Alice ignored her brother and looked around the school's grounds. Everything was very… lush. The grass was very green, the trees were _super_ green, the petals on the flowers were almost glowing, even the pavement they were walking on was amazingly clean and it… _sparkled_ under the sun.

"Umm, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"This place makes me want to throw mud at something." Riku stopped walking and stared at his sister for a moment before shaking his head and started up the steps to the door.

"I don't want to know." He told himself, holding the door open for his sister. Alice smirked at him and winked as she passed him. Passed the front doors was what looked like a giant foyer or commons that the students could chat in. Leading off from the commons was two halls on the far left and the far right of the room. In the center of the back of the room was a wide staircase that led up to the second floor. Once again, everything was very clean and polished. The state of the school really made Alice want to have a food fight or something.

"So, where to?" She asked her brother, not having a clue as to where to go.

Riku blinked at his sister before scrunching his nose up, trying to remember if his parents or Uncle had told him.

"Err, I have no clue." He scratched the back of his head, glancing around the commons, looking for a sign or a map that said where the headmaster's office was. No such luck. There was a sign for the first year classrooms down the right hall and a sign for the second year classrooms down the left hall, and that was it. The third year classrooms were probably up the stairs on the second floor.

Alice snorted, "Well, so much for you getting us there Mr. Hotshot." She murmured, making sure to keep her voice low so Riku wouldn't hear her. She didn't feel like listening to his nagging right then. Sighing, she looked at the two halls and the staircase leading away from the commons and played a quick mental game of 'eenie meenie miney moe' to pick which way to go. "Right?" She finally asked Riku, nodding her head toward the right hall.

"That's as good as anything, I guess." Riku agreed. They both set off down the right hall, glancing at closed classroom doors and bulletin boards on the wall, looking for any sign that would tell them where the headmaster's office was.

"At least we're getting our exploring done." Riku told her sister, trying to not get frustrated. They had basically circled the bottom floor and now they were heading back down what was the left hall to the commons.

Alice hummed in agreement, glancing down one of the off shooting halls that connected to the main one

"People!" Riku started at Alice's exclamation and turned to find her running down an off shooting hall toward a door at the end of it that was closing. He stared after her for a moment before sighing and running after her.

"Excuse me!" Alice burst out of the door, finding herself in front of the tennis courts. She took a moment to examine them, happy that they were a little more ruffed up than the rest of the school, before turning her attention to the black, short haired boy and the brown, spikey haired boy that she was chasing after.

"Excuse me." She said again, ignoring their bewildered looks and bowed quickly. "I'm Ikuma Alice and this-" her brother burst through the door and almost tripped at having to stop quicker than he had anticipated. "-is my twin, Ikuma Riku. We were wondering if you could help us find Headmaster Takamatsu-sama's office." She beamed at the two boys, enjoying their shocked looks and easily ignoring Riku's annoyed one.

"Um, sure?" The brown haired boy said. Alice's smile widened at the statement that ended up sounding like a question. People were so easy to shock.

The black haired boy cleared his throat and a stern look slid across his features. Alice figured that this was his normal look, and she would only see anything else if she shocked it out of him again. "Takamatsu-sama's office is on the second floor to the right along with the main office and the other administrator's and teachers' offices. It'll be easy to spot once you are up there." Alice quickly thanked the two boys before grabbing her brother's arm and dragging him inside. She did this partly because she wanted to see if she could leave a lasting impression on the two boys, who were clearly tennis players, and partly because she knew it would annoy her brother -her unspoken and probably unneeded payback for him annoying her earlier. It was a win-win to her.

The twins made it about half way down the hall before Alice stopped and slapped her forehead. Not explaining anything to her brother, she turned and ran back down the hall, ignoring the burning in her calves from their punishment that morning.

She burst back out the door and was happy to see that the two boys hadn't made it that far.

"Excuse me!" She yelled again, jogging after them. They turned around and gave her curious looks.

"Yes Ikuma-san?" Alice smiled sheepishly at them, twiddling her fingers slightly.

"Sorry, but I forgot to ask you something." She smiled at them, trying to look her most innocent.

"What is it, Ikuma-san?" The brown haired boy asked.

"We-ell," Alice drew the word out, "You just look like you're on the tennis team so I was wondering if you could tell me when tryouts for the next school year would be." The boys exchanged looks before the brown haired boy spoke again.

"You mean you don't know?" He asked, and his eyes widened slightly when Alice shook her head. "Oh, well, they're starting Monday Ikuma-san." Alice felt her own eyes widening and did nothing to try and stop herself.

"So soon?" She asked. The boys nodded, and this time the black haired boy answered.

"Banji-sensei likes to hold tryouts early in the summer, so that the new regulars will have plenty of time to get used to our practices and get integrated onto the team. It also gives them the chance to watch the last tournament of the summer which goes through the first day of school." Alice nodded her understanding and bowed her thanks to the boys, skipping lightly back into the school where Riku was waiting. At his questioning look she explained.

"I forgot to ask when tryouts started." Riku's eyes widened.

"I completely forgot about that too! What did you find out?" He asked.

"Well, tryouts start Monday." Alice quickly retold Riku what the boys had told her, and he nodded in understanding.

"It's a good thing you remembered." He murmured, wincing at the thought of missing tryouts. Alice nodded her agreement, and both began wondering back toward the main hall.

"Well, back to finding the headmaster." Riku said to no one in particular.

*%%*

The headmaster of Yamabuki turned out to be as boring and as pristine as the school looked. He was a fairly lean man in his later years dressed in an immaculate suit, and his office was _very_ orderly. Alice sighed and sat straighter in her seat. Something about this man triggered the same instincts that her Japanese grandparents did, making her sit straight backed and keep an interested, polite expression on her face. It also stopped her from fidgeting, which she really wanted to do.

Alice glanced around the office again, wanting to sneer at the diplomas displayed on the walls and the nothing-out-of-place book shelf. How boring! It was a good thing that Riku paid better attention to authority figures than she did, or she was sure she would regret it later. She finally turned her attention back to the headmaster and almost slumped in relief when she saw him give Riku some papers and a polite dismissal. She stood and, after nodding her thanks, followed her brother out the door.

"Finally!" She exclaimed as soon as they back in the hall near the stairs, making sure to keep her voice down just in case sound carried well in this school. Riku snorted, throwing her an exasperated look.

"Why are you so excited? You didn't actually pay attention to the man! I, on the other hand, suffered! I mean, he could sell recordings of his voice as sleeping aids!" Alice made a face at her brother before thinking about it. Headmaster Takamatsu really did have a monotonous voice that seemed to drone on.

"He must have been a math teacher before becoming a principal." She told her brother, sending him a serious look. Riku nodded back just as seriously. The two of them made it about five steps before chuckling together, neither that amused but finding humor in the slight truth of the statement, having seen the mathematics diplomas on his walls.

"So, are we going to explore more now?" Alice asked her brother. Riku nodded.

"I figured we could just head outside and explore the grounds." He told his sister, starting down the stairs. "You know, since we've pretty much covered inside." Riku didn't turn around to see if his sister agreed with him or not and just continued down the stairs, across the commons, and out the doors. He looked around a bit and chose to follow the path leading around the school to the left.

"At least wait up!" Riku smirked at his sister's call, but did slow down. He wanted to get this done fast, because his muscles burned and he felt disgusting, having not showered yet.

As soon as Alice caught up to him he quickened his pace again. As he looked around at the pristine grounds Riku found himself agreeing with his sister's earlier statement. Yamabuki Chuu was a well taken care of school, with the lawns mowed, the gardens taken care of, and the sidewalks scrubbed clean.

"I kinda want to throw some mud too." Alice snorted following slightly behind her brother.

"Told you."

* * *

><p>Well, there's chapter 3 for ya. We hope you all enjoyed it, and we want to say thanks to Rainbowlalaland, miiika, and Yanza for the awesome reviews on our second chapter. Thanks guys! To those of you that favorited or alerted our story, we also thank you, but your name won't show up here unless you actually leave a review which we hope you'll take the time to do since you seem to like our story.<p>

There were finally some cannon characters in this chapter, but we'd still like more feedback on Alice and Riku if you've got anything to say about them or just the story in general. Thanks for supporting our story!

~The Splits


	4. Top 16

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~The Splits

**Chapter Four**

Top 16

Riku observed the people standing in front of the group of students that were trying out. The man standing a step in front of the others was a kind looking old man with a smile on his lips and dimples at the corners of his closed eyes who had just introduced himself as "Banda Mikiya, call me Banji." Behind him were two other adults and nine teenage boys who he assumed were the previous regulars and the team manager.

"Welcome to Yamabuki tennis team tryouts." Riku pinched his sister, snapping her out of whatever she was thinking about.

"Pay attention." He hissed under his breath. "I won't repeat any of this to you if you don't." Giving her brother an annoyed look and rubbing her stinging arm, Alice tuned toward the coach that was giving a speech explaining how the tennis teams worked and how the tryouts would proceed.

"So I assume you all are aiming to represent our school as a member of the regular's team, but that isn't easy to do," the head regular's coach began. "Here at Yamabuki we have a rigorous system for selecting members of the regulars. To start with we have a boy's and girl's tennis team. I'll let the coach for the girl's team, Watanabe-sensei, explain that part."

A young, lean woman in green sweats stepped up next to the coach, thanking him for the introduction and turning toward the crowd of middle school students. "Both the boy's tennis team and the girl's tennis team are represented by the eight strongest players in their respective team at the smaller tournaments around Tokyo. These tournaments aren't as known or as looked forward to as the tournaments played by the regulars who consist of the best boys and girls from the tennis team. However, they are a good way to gain experience so you can possibly challenge for a regular position later." Watanabe cast a stern look at the players, clutching the clipboard she was carrying closer to her stomach.

"As you all know, anyone that wants to join the tennis club can, but to represent the school as either a regular or the top eight of your gender, you'll need to win the majority of your matches over the next few days of tryouts. Try your best and don't leave any regrets on the court. Thank you." The girl's coach stepped back with a nod and the head coach once again stepped up.

"If you manage to secure a place on either the boy's or girl's representative teams then you have a chance to compete for a place on the regular team." Alice shifted on her feet and clutched the strap of her bag close, paying more attention to the head coach then she had previously.

"If you make it to the regulars someone from the normal tennis club can challenge for the spot you leave behind on the representative team.

"At any time members of the boy's and girl's representative teams may challenge the regulars for a spot, and in turn anyone who wishes to challenge for a spot on one of the representative teams can also do so at any time. There are two stipulations; however, the first is that you cannot challenge in the middle of a tournament, and the second is that you must first have your challenge match cleared by me or by Watanabe- sensei or Takahashi-sensei." He nodded to the boy's coach, a man that looked to be in his late thirties with hard blue eyes and steel gray hair. "We will also be the ones picking your opponent if we agree to your challenge."

"Now, unless there are any questions we would like to begin the tryouts." Riku and Alice looked around along with everyone else, but no questions were posed. "Alright then, will all the boys please report to courts A, B, C, and D while the girls report to courts E-H. These will also be the courts that you will practice on after tryouts, so try and remember where you are heading." There was a moment of silence before some of the older students began walking off to the courts. Adjusting his tennis bag on his shoulder, Riku glanced over at Alice.

"Make sure you win." Rolling her eyes, Alice bumped against Riku as she walked past him.

"I should be saying that to you. Our goal is to play doubles on the regular team. Losing before we get there isn't an option."

"It's not really an option when we get there either, is it?" Riku mumbled under his breath as he watched Alice walk off- in the wrong direction. "Hey Alice, it's the other way to the girl's courts." Not even sparing her brother a look, Alice changed direction and began following the other girls. Sighing, Riku shook his head before feeling an arm around his shoulder, startling him.

"Don't look so down. It's only the first day, and you were talking to a cute girl. Lucky." An orange haired boy wearing the regulars' uniform said, leading Riku off towards the boy's courts. "The name's Sengoku Kiyosumi, third year, by the way. Do you think you could hook me up with that cutie later? You seem to be on good terms. Unless she's you're girlfriend, of course. Then I guess I'd just be unlucky 'cause she's already taken."

"Ikuma Riku, also a third year," Riku supplied, ignoring the fact that Sengoku hadn't actually asked for his name. "And I'm not hooking you up with Alice."

"Ah, so she's your girl after all. Man, I'm just unlucky today," Sengoku sighed with a comic shake of his head. Feeling Riku's shoulders shaking under his arm Sengoku turned at the sound of him laughing. "What's so funny? I just lost the chance to go out with a cutie 'cause you're dating her."

"Hardly," Riku snorted, swallowing the rest of his laughter. "Alice isn't my girlfriend, Sengoku-san. I'm not really interested in dating right now."

"Ah, so she's free after all," Sengoku grinned. "If you're not going out with her you have to hook me up man. Come on, as a favor between us men."

"No way Sengoku-san," Riku laughed, lightly shoving the boy off him. "I am _not _hooking you up with my sister." He laughed as he heard Sengoku stumble, and turned to give him a cheeky grin. "You want Alice to pay attention to you; you're going to have to go up to her yourself." Leaving the gawking regular behind Riku turned and continued after the other boys.

They all eventually came to a stop by the A-D court's entrance, waiting for Takahashi-sempai to make his way through the crowd to the gate.

"All right you all." Takahashi's voice boomed out over the boys. "I want Kimura and Kudo on court A, Arai and Maruyama on court B, Yamamoto and Nakamura on court C, and Suzuki and Kobayashi on court D. Go up to the regulars that are there as judges and introduce yourselves. They will be keeping track of who wins and who loses. The rest of you can pick a match to watch. The regulars judging also have megaphones with them and will call out the next pair playing on their courts so make sure you listen for your name." The man then opened the gate and let the boys through.

Not sure where to go, Riku found himself watching the match on court C. It wasn't very interesting to watch; neither of the boys had much skill to speak of. They'd never make it as more than normal members of the club, Riku thought as he looked on in boredom. As one of the other matches finished up the regular in charge called out the names for the next match. "Ikuma and Abe report to court A please." Hearing his name, Riku picked up his tennis bag which he'd set down earlier and started towards court A. After watching a boring match like the one on court C he really hoped that his opponent would give him a little excitement.

*%%*

"Game, set, match to Ikuma: 6-2." The regular in charge called out as the two shook hands over the net. "Next pair…" Walking over to the bench Alice let a satisfied smile stretch over her lips. The game hadn't been too hard, but it had taken her a couple games, two, in fact, to get used to the fact that there was no one she could rely on during the match but herself. She _really_ wasn't a singles player. Luckily, though, the person she was playing was obviously a fairly inexperienced player and it wasn't much of a problem to get over her slump. She was confident that it would be easier for her during her next game to play singles.

She quickly put her racket away and sipped at her water, looking around at the organized chaos swarming the courts. Just watching she could pick out the more confident, experienced players. They were the ones that kept their rackets away and calmly observed matches, waiting to be called. Normally they wouldn't stick out so much, but Alice observed a lot of the girls picking at their racket strings and bouncing around.

Really she was amused by it all, sure if you didn't make it to the top eight of the girls, you couldn't be a famed regular, but you still automatically made it on the tennis team for trying out and there you would have a chance to up your skills. After that it was all a matter of challenging for a spot. Nothing to be nervous about, in her opinion.

"Ikuma and Yamada on court F." Alice blinked toward the regular holding the megaphone, surprised that she would be called so quickly. Idly she wondered what would happen if a player were still playing and got called again, but she quickly threw that thought away. Now really wasn't the time to be indulgent in her thoughts.

She pulled out her racket and quickly walked toward court F, eyeing her opponent. The girl she would be playing was tall and had long auburn hair and it didn't look like she was going to put it up, which Alice immediately pegged as a weakness. It'd be easy to turn the player around enough that her hair would obstruct her vision, and it was pretty windy, which would only work in her favor. The girl also dragged her heals when she walked, a hard habit to have in tennis. She would be slow.

Alice allowed the confidence in her to grow, but not overly much. Wouldn't do to underestimate her opponent, after all.

*%%*

Leaning back against the tree he was standing under, Riku took another drink from his water bottle as he watched the match's progress. He'd already played twice and had won both times without any trouble taking them 6-1 and 6-0, respectively. Putting away his water, Riku pulled a coin out of his pocket and began to roll it back and forth with his fingers. The match closest to him was actually pretty interesting. The two playing had both been on the boy's representative team the previous year, which Riku had learned from some of the other boys who were watching the match while making comments about it and the players.

The boys playing had a good form, but he could tell why they stayed as team representatives instead of winning a spot on the regular team. The boy on the left side of the court was too slow and lost a lot of balls that way. The boy on the right, on the other hand, had very little ball control and tried to used too much power for how much he had, putting many balls out. Good, but Riku thought he could take both of them at least somewhat easily.

Riku took out his cell phone and glanced at the time. It was already 2:30 and he figured that he would have one more match before the day was out; the coach had explained that tryouts would end at three that day with the remaining games taking place the next day. He put his phone away and turned to look at the match again, only to find it over, the boys shaking hands and the judge declaring the boy on the left, Suzuki, the winner. It was only a moment after the two left the courts when Riku heard his name and another called by the regular. Time to play.

Having lost the racket spin, Riku found himself standing behind the baseline waiting to receive the other boy's serve. Watching as the boy threw the ball up into the air, Riku leaned forward onto his toes. The serve came deep, but not too hard. Meeting it with his racket, Riku sent the ball sailing back over the net, making the boy run for it. Shuffling to the center, Riku took the return with a forehand adding extra topspin to it so that the ball didn't bounce as high after it hit the court. His opponent caught the ball with the top part of his racket, and Riku watched idly as it smacked into the net. Decent, but his opponent's shots lacked confidence.

Returning to the baseline, Riku took the next serve with his backhand, sending it to the forecourt. Running up the boy hit the ball with a crosscourt forehand. Smirking with the belief that Riku wouldn't be able to reach it, the boy was left standing in shock as the ball whizzed past him and slammed into the backcourt before hitting into the fence.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to get a point off me." Riku said as he straightened up from his off balance position. The other boy just stared before opening his mouth to blurt out a question.

"What the heck is wrong with you? Your form is so messed up. How do you even manage to hit the ball in like that?"

"Just because there's such a thing as a textbook shot doesn't mean it's the only way to do it. The way I hit is what works for me. If you have a problem with it, show me through your tennis, not your mouth." Riku said nonchalantly as he sauntered back to his receiving position. "Are you going to go back and serve, or not?" he asked the boy who still hadn't moved from when the point had ended. Glaring at Riku, he stormed back to the baseline and ended up serving a double fault -he was so frustrated. Taking the next point by rushing the net and hitting a solid volley, Riku claimed the first game.

Straightening up, Riku took the offered balls from the boy as they switched sides. Smirking to himself, Riku placed two of the balls in his pocket before bouncing the last one against the court. Glancing over the net to his opponent, Riku noted his position and tossed the ball high up into the air. "If you thought my stroke form was bad you're just going to love this," he said as he brought his racket down on the ball. Twisting his wrist to the left, Riku swung his racket across his body and down the left side of the ball, ending near his feet. The ball sailed over the net and struck deep into the service box. Catching the ball with a forehand, the boy's eyes widened as it flew off his racket in a weak shot that Riku cleared away with a sharp backhand volley.

"You- Tha- What?" The boy stuttered, looking from the ball to his racket to Riku. Grinning, Riku pulled one of the other balls out of his pocket.

"Stunned? I call it the Reverse Serve. Let's see if you can figure out why before the match is over." Throwing the ball up into the air, Riku repeated the motion from his previous serve, sending the ball near the center line. The second he finished his serve motion Riku was running up to aggressively attack the net. Taking the weak shot the boy put up Riku smashed it at the boy's feet, chuckling as the boy stumbled and barely avoided falling over. This match was already his.

Fifteen minutes later the match was over without Riku losing even a single point. Giving a friendly smile to his opponent as they met at the net to shake hands, Riku could tell by the way he was acting that this boy didn't like him at all. He wouldn't meet Riku's eyes, and the handshake was so fast Riku wasn't sure if the boy's hand really touched his. Not caring, Riku shrugged his shoulders before going to grab his stuff from the bench. If people didn't like him it was their problem, not his. If the boy wasn't so bad at tennis maybe it would be different, but so far Riku was not impressed by Japanese tennis in the slightest.

"The competition in Italy was much better than this," he said to himself, but his opponent overhead him.

"If that's the case then why don't you go back to your precious Italy." He sneered, still feeling sore from not being able to get even a single point of Riku. What he didn't expect was Riku's ice cold answer.

"If I'd had a choice I never would have left in the first place. I've _never_ liked Japan. In fact, I _hate_ it here." Roughly shouldering his bag, Riku turned and left the court, ignoring the stares from the boy and the regular up in the umpire seat, who just so happened to be Sengoku. Walking around, Riku found Takahashi-sensei and asked if he'd be playing in another match or if he was done for the day. Hearing that he was done and to make sure and be there the same time tomorrow, he wandered off towards the girl's courts to find Alice. Riku found her playing on the farthest court. She was up 5-0. Smirking, Riku leaned against the fence to watch the rest of the match.

Serving the ball deep into the corner, Alice moved to the center of the baseline. Seeing the girl use a forehand with a light topspin on it, Alice ran to her left and sent a two-handed backhand down the line. Chasing after it her opponent nicked the ball with the frame of her racket, sending the ball straight up into the air before it dropped back down on her side of the court. "Fifteen-love," Alice called before serving again.

This time she sent the ball near the midline. The girl returned it with a deep backhand, and the two rallied for several balls using deep baseline shots. Deciding to change things up Alice hit a shallow forecourt shot to draw the other girl up off the baseline. Taking the girl's forehand volley Alice hit a crosscourt lob that was just high enough that the girl couldn't reach it. She chased after the ball, but was too slow as it took its second bounce. For the next point Alice used her control to send the poor girl running back and forth to chase down the ball, which didn't last long because the girl was tired and a slow runner to begin with.

"Forty-love." Alice said as she bounced the ball up and down. "I think it's about time to end this, don't you?" Tossing up the ball, Alice went all out on a flat serve that zipped low over the net. The girl went to swing at the ball, but connected wrong, sending the ball high up into the air. Not moving, Alice waited for the ball to bounce out of bounds behind her before walking up to the net to shake hands.

"_Nice finish_." Riku said as he walked over to the court gates to meet up with Alice who had just finished gathering up her things.

"I was bored. I haven't felt challenged at all today. I hate it." She complained as the two started walking home. "I played three matches today and easily won them all. 6-2, 6-1, and 6-0."

"_Same here. It was 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 for me, and singles isn't even our forte_."

"You're speaking Italian again Riku."

"_I don't care. Italian is better than Japanese, just like Italy is better than Japan._" Riku said sorely. Seeing that Riku wasn't in the best of moods, Alice dropped it. She agreed with him anyways. The rest of the walk home was pretty much silent.

*%%*

"Hey kids. How'd it go?" Uncle was waiting for them on the front step of the house, looking expectant.

"_Too easy_." Was all Riku muttered as he and Alice walked passed, still talking in Italian. At this point the twins were both in a bad mood and homesick.

"_Japan sucks tennis wise._" Alice offered in the same language. "_So far, at least._" The twins attempted a smile at their uncle-figure before continuing into the house. Uncle stared after them, worried. He had hoped that these tryouts would get them to like Japan just a bit more, but it seemed to do the opposite. Hopefully over the next few days of tryouts they would meet some better players that would really challenge them, or else he worried that this slump they were in would become the norm.

Uncle headed inside after the kids, closing the door behind him. He started for the backdoor, intent on working in the gardens a bit, when he heard Riku's raised voice demanding Alice leave his room.

A rush of anger raced through Uncle's blood, mixing in with the worry and frustration already there. He immediately turned on his heel and walked up the stairs, hearing more of Riku's frustrated shouts and Alice's smooth taunting. Reaching the top of the stairs Uncle took quick steps to the room, entering it and finding the two twins inches away from the other's nose. Two large steps forward and he was within reach.

"Ouch!" Uncle watched, only somewhat satisfied, as Riku and Alice rubbed their foreheads, twin grimaces of pain on their faces.

"Sit down and shut up," he ordered the two, pointing to the bed. When they hesitated he snapped his fingers in their faces. "Do I need to knock your heads together again? Sit down." There was no hesitation this time. Uncle might not be their parents or related to them by blood, but the twins had long ago learned that that didn't mean Uncle couldn't discipline them and put them in their place.

Uncle took a step back and crossed his arms, examining the two. "Alright you two, it's time we chatted." The twins knew better than trying to talk at this point and nodded. "We'll start with Alice." He turned to the fidgeting girl, intent on getting his point across.

"Why are you in your brother's room?" Alice started, nervously glancing at Riku. "Don't look at him," Uncle demanded, "you're a smart girl, you should know the answer without help." Alice nodded and twisted her fingers together, staring just passed Uncle's shoulder.

"I'm lonely, I don't-"

"The real reason Alice Suzume. The one that doesn't involve self-pity." Alice gulped, closing her eyes and clamping her hands together, ignoring her protesting knuckles and the bite of her nails in her skin. "Nothing? I'll tell you then." Uncle crouched down in front of Alice, forcing her to feel his presence if she wouldn't look at him.

"You are scared. You've been treating Riku like your safety blanket, the one you used to sleep with at night. You follow him around like you'll die without his presence." Alice's hands slowly tightened with each word spoken, drawing some blood from underneath her nails and turning her knuckles white. "You haven't gone on your usual run since you've arrived in Japan, you haven't stalked the tennis courts looking for someone new to play, you haven't forced everyone to play chess with you, and you haven't holed yourself up in your room for long hours doing whatever it is that you do in there. You go to tennis practice with Riku, you go on runs with Riku, you stay tucked up in Riku's room when you're home. You know what I'm getting at yet?" Forcing herself to open her eyes, Alice looked at her Uncle and nodded, ignoring the tears that had escaped.

"You need to stop this, Alice." Uncle's voice had softened and he reached forward to grab her hands, gently untangling them and holding them in his. "I know you're scared, I know you're worried and want something familiar nearby, but this isn't you." He slowly stroked the back of her hand. "You aren't acting like the quirky genius that we all know and love, and we're all worried. So take a deep breath and take that cliché leap of faith. Go on your run and if you get lost, just call one of us, you know we're more than willing to help. Just get away from your brother for a bit and remember to be yourself." Alice managed a shaky smile and leaned forward to hug Uncle, pressing her face into the collar of his shirt.

"Only if you buy a new map," she murmured, "I ripped the other one." Holding back a chuckle, Uncle agreed to get Alice a new map as he gently squeezed her. After a minute Uncle let go of Alice and turned to face Riku who was now sitting in the chair at his desk breathing in and out deeply with his eyes closed. He had an idea what Uncle was going to say to him, though he didn't really want to hear it right now.

"Antonio." Uncle said steadily. He could tell how frustrated Riku was, and wanted to avoid setting him off if possible, but that didn't mean he wouldn't say what was on his mind. "You're just as guilty as Alice when it comes to acting strangely since everyone moved here. Do you understand?" Opening his eyes, Riku met Uncle's gaze and nodded evenly as his left hand began to ball slowly into a fist. He really wasn't in the mood for this. "Stop that." Uncle said sternly as he walked forward and knelt, catching Riku's hand, and forcing him to open his fingers back up.

"Let go." Riku nearly growled as he ripped his hand from Uncle's grip. Frowning, Uncle drew himself up to his full height and glared down at Riku who sulkily avoided his gaze by staring at his desk.

"Antonio Riku. Stop glaring at your desk and look at me like a man." The command in Uncle's voice was unmistakable. Slowly, Riku tore his gaze from the swirling patterns in the wood of his desk to meet Uncle's hard stare. "This is what I was talking about Antonio. You never used to sulk around like this. Since you got here, I haven't heard Alice scream once from a prank you've pulled, and I might have heard you laugh twice. All you ever do is sit up here in your room if you're not off playing tennis-" Riku had had it. Standing up abruptly, he swiftly walked passes Uncle towards the door of his room.

"Antonio!" Uncle said, whirling to face the boy as he stopped in the doorframe.

Grabbing the doorframe tightly in frustration, Riku didn't turn around as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Uncle. I need some time to think things through without Alice hanging off of me."

"Don't blame this on your sister Antonio." Uncle began sternly as he started to stride towards Riku.

"I'm not!" Riku shouted, making Uncle stop in his tracks. "Don't you get it?" Whirling, Riku glared at Uncle. "Even you said it- ever since we got here Alice has been stuck to me like a magnet." Here Riku pointed an accusing finger at his sister without ever taking his eyes off of Uncle. "I haven't had any alone time with my own thoughts to even begin to figure out what to do, say, or feel since I set foot on Japanese soil. All because of her! So yeah, I'm going to be acting weird, and no, I'm not going to stick around for you to lecture me about it. Keep lecturing her or something," he waved toward where Alice was still sitting, "she seems to be receptive enough."

"Antonio-" Uncle started as Riku turned and put a foot out the door. He hadn't realized Riku was frustrated enough to yell at him and even more astonishingly, walk out on him- something that he'd normally never even dare and try to do.

"I'm leaving. You can punish me later." Riku said coolly, cutting Uncle off before swiftly walking down the hall and practically running down the stairs. He only stopped at the front door long enough to slip his shoes back on and grab his tennis bag which he'd dropped just inside the door.

"Antonio?" Came his mother's voice as she came to see why he was leaving after just getting home. She'd heard the shouting upstairs and wondered if there was anything she could do.

"Sorry Mom, I'll be back later." Opening the front door, Riku could hear footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Antonio, wait!" Uncle called, but Riku nearly slammed the front door behind him blocking the rest of Uncle's words from his ears as he took off running, not caring where he went. He just needed to get away.

*%%*

When he finally stopped to catch his breath, Riku found himself at the bottom of a set of stairs. Having nothing better to do, he climbed up them only to find they opened up onto a set of street courts. Tennis again huh? Well, Riku had to admit his matches earlier in the day hadn't been very challenging. Maybe there was someone around here he could play a match against to relieve some stress and help clear his thoughts up a bit more. It wouldn't hurt to look around.

As he wandered the courts, Riku stopped to watch a few of the matches that were being played. Really, the players weren't half bad. While watching a doubles match being played on the nearest court, Riku realized that his throat was feeling a bit dry. How far had he run again? Looking around, he spotted a vending machine in the middle of the courts and started making his way towards it. Another boy who looked familiar reached the vending machine a little before Riku. Could it be?

"Fuji Yuuta?" Riku asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Huh?" The boy said, somewhat irritated as he turned around, a scowl on his face. Seeing Riku, a look of confusion flashed across his face followed by the dawning of recognition. "Hey, aren't you that guy from the other day?"

"Ikuma Riku." Riku replied with a nod. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" Yuuta's bad reaction hadn't escaped him.

"Wha? …ah, no." Yuuta said quickly as he realized what Riku was talking about. "Sorry, I just don't like being called by my last name. That's all."

"Really? My bad, so Yuuta-san then? You are a third year right?" Giving Riku a weird look, Yuuta frowned slightly. Did his last name not affect this kid? Everyone in the area knew the name Fuji.

"Actually Ikuma-san, I'm a second year." Yuuta replied. "It's my brother that's a third year. I think you mixed us up." Distaste colored his voice at this statement. He was always being compared to his brother, even by people he didn't know. It was so irritating.

"Uh, sorry to disappoint you, but I've never met your brother, so I don't see how I could mistake you for him." Drawing out his wallet from his tennis bag, Riku pulled out a couple of coins and got a water from the vending machine. He hadn't forgotten that he was thirsty. "Is your brother really well known or something?" He asked as he twisted he cap off the water.

"You mean you really don't know who my aniki is?" Yuuta asked, the shock evident on his face. How could this guy not know his brother?

"Why would I?" Taking a sip, Riku cast a glance at Yuuta. "After all, I just moved here from Italy about two weeks ago, so I really don't know anybody."

"What, Italy? You serious?"

"Yeah. What about it?" Shrugging his shoulders, Riku took another drink, and watched as the guy serving on the nearest court aced his opponent. Not bad.

"The way you speak doesn't have an accent and you speak really fluently for having just moved here." Yuuta pointed out as he popped open his own drink that he'd gotten before Riku had come up behind him.

"Ah, that. Yeah, I've been speaking Japanese since I was a little kid, so I have no problems with any of that stuff, but enough about that, are you here with anyone?" Riku asked, turning his attention back to Yuuta.

"Y-you mean like on a d-date?" Yuuta's entire face was turning a light shade of red.

"What? No." Riku said giving Yuuta a weird look. "Why the heck would I want to know that? I meant, are you here playing tennis with anyone or are you free to play a match?"

"Oh…" The red on Yuuta's face slowly began disappearing except for on his cheeks which burned with embarrassment. "No, I'm here by myself."

"Great!" Capping his drink, Riku adjusted his tennis bag so it wasn't sitting funny on his shoulder. "Then unless you have to be somewhere to be, let's play a set. I'd love to take your rising shot head on." A gleam flashed in Riku's eyes as he glanced at Yuuta over his shoulder before starting towards one of the open courts.

"Heh, you're gonna regret saying that." Yuuta retorted with a competitive edge in his voice, all feelings of embarrassment washed away at the challenge in Riku's voice. Jogging to catch up to Riku, the two smirked at each other. This was gonna be fun.

*%%*

Alice stared listlessly at her brother's door from his bed. She had known that Riku didn't appreciate her around him all the time, but for him to- she looked down at her hands, noticing that they were once again twisted and clenched together, absently noticing that Uncle was racing out the door and down the stairs, following Riku toward the front door.

Slowly, almost achingly slowly, Alice stood up and absently smoothed out the wrinkles on Riku's bed from where they had been sitting. Once that was done she took her time walking out of his room, making sure to close the door behind her. She took a second to lean against it, feeling the grainy texture of the wood under the gloss of the paint with the tips of her fingers, before she began walking toward her room, running her hand along the wall as she went. She felt every dip and rise of the paint, so similar yet so different from her home in Italy. Her toes and heels dragged across the hard-wood floor beneath her feet, rubbing across the seams between the planks and sliding across the glossy finish on the wood.

Finally reaching her room, the one she had worked hard to win and the one she spent almost no time in when not sleeping, she opened the door and slipped in. Alice looked around, taking in the purple walls, the fluffy white carpet, the bed tucked away in one corner, and the huge widow with the amazing view –the reason she had wanted the room in the first place.

"Hi room," she murmured aloud, walking toward the center of the room and sitting down. She liked sitting there on the carpet; it was her favorite way to view her room. Sitting there and staring up at everything in her room made it all look so big, like she was surrounded by things that wouldn't quite fit her, and oddly, that was comforting. She liked how surreal everything felt, how unreal, like she was special to be allowed in.

Rubbing her fingers in small circles in the carpet beside her, she looked across the room and into her closet. On the floor, directly across from her were her running shoes. Her uncle's concerns reached her ears once more, telling her that she hadn't been running since she had gotten here. Getting onto her hands and knees she crawled across the room and, once she had reached the closet, settled onto her knees, sitting on the back of her feet.

Alice grabbed the shoes and placed them on her lap, caressing the dangling strings.

"You could go, you know." She started and quickly turned toward the door, finding Uncle there, leaning against her doorframe.

"Go?" she asked.

"Running." Uncle gestured to the shoes on her lap. Alice looked down at them again, running her finger along the lip of the shoe.

"I'll get lost," she told him. "I don't want to get lost." She heard her uncle walk towards her and felt him place one of his hands on her shoulder a second later.

"That's why I have this." A neatly folded piece of glossy paper appeared in her vision. Hesitantly grabbing it, Alice found herself holding a new map of the area. Setting her shoes on the floor she turned to the side and unfolded the mag, laying it out in front of her.

Uncle crouched next to her and pointed to a place circled by a highlighter on the map. "This is the house," he told her. "These," he ran his finger along some of the highlighted routes, "are my favorite paths to take running so far." Alice followed his finger. Some of them lead to parks and others to what looked like shopping districts and temples.

"These ones," he pointed at a couple of trails highlighted in a different color than the running trails, "are paths leading to various tennis courts that I've looked up." Nodding her understanding, Alice sat staring at the map. She took in the different colored paths and noted some of the sights that she could see. Closing her eyes she blindly jabbed her finger at the map, trying to stick close to where a bunch of the paths bisected.

Looking down, she moved her finger to the closest path and turned and smiled at Uncle. "I'll go here." Uncle slowly nodded, running his eyes across the trail she had chosen.

"It's going to be a long run," he warned. Alice shrugged and studied the map, trying to memorize the streets she would have to turn at and landmarks she would see along the way.

"I'll be fine with the distance." Uncle nodded his agreement. Alice, while significantly slower than Riku, had a lot more stamina then her brother. She couldn't beat him in a short sprint, but would easily take him in a long distance run.

"Then go ahead and get dressed, and make sure you pick something with pockets so you can bring your phone." Nodding her agreement, Alice rose and began digging through her closet, riffling through her exercise drawer in search of a pair of shorts with pockets in them.

Uncle smiled fondly at the girl muttering to herself and rose from his crouch. At least he had gotten through to one of the twins.

*%%*

Plopping down on the court side bench next to Yuuta, Riku couldn't suppress the large grin covering his face. He hadn't had that much fun in weeks. "Thanks Yuuta-kun. I haven't played a match that great in a _long_ time. I really needed that."

"Same here." An identical grin to Riku's was finding its way onto Yuuta's face. "Although, I have to admit your form really threw me off at first. How does the ball even go back over when you hit it like that?" Leaning back, Yuuta looked over at Riku curiously.

"Ha, I dunno really. All I know is that it's what works for me, and man, your rising shot is better than I thought. It took me a couple games to get the timing down to return it just right." Bending over, Riku pulled his bag out from underneath the bench to put his racket away. After watching him for a moment, Yuuta followed suit. Once their rackets were put away, the two got up. Pulling out his cellphone, Riku checked the time and noticed that he had several texts and a voice mail. Looking, he saw they were all from his family and Uncle-duh, it's not like anyone else had his number, though none were from Alice…wait a minute.

"Hey Yuuta-kun, do you have a cellphone?"

"Yeah, right here." Riku watched a Yuuta pulled one out of his pocket and showed it to him.

"Do ya wanna trade numbers? That way we could get together and play each other again or just hang out and do something."

"Sure, that sounds good to me." Yuuta replied as the two switched phones and entered their data before passing the phones back. Getting his phone back, Riku looked at the newly entered info and smirked. As cheesy as it sounded, it looked like he'd just made his first friend in Japan. While he was thinking this, his phone buzzed yet again as another text message came through. This time it was from his mom. Sighing deeply, Riku closed his phone without opening the text. He could pretty much guess what was in it. "What's wrong? Shouldn't you at least read it before shutting your phone?" Yuuta asked as he slipped his own phone back into his pocket.

"Nah, I can already guess what it's about. I left my house earlier in a pretty bad mood, so all the texts I'm getting are probably to check up on me and are asking me to come home and talk things out or something like that." Riku replied as he put his phone in his pocket. "_Honestly, I left the house so I could clear my head and figure things out without everyone breathing down my neck._" Running a hand through his hair absently mindedly, Riku glanced over at Yuuta who was giving him a strange look.

"_What? Haven't you ever needed time to think things out by yourself before?_" Riku didn't think it was that novel of an idea so that it merited him getting a funny look for mentioning it.

"Wow, you really are from Italy. I can't understand a word you're saying." Yuuta said in slight amazement. At his words Riku did a double take. Had he really switched to Italian without noticing again? …yep, probably since Yuuta said so. It really was too bad that he couldn't tell when he switched languages…

"Sorry Yuuta-kun. I slip into Italian without realizing it sometimes." Apologizing, Riku rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and made a conscious effort to speak in Japanese.

"Nah, it's fine. As long as you weren't trying to say something that I needed to know, that is."

"Nope. Nothing vital, at least. Anyways, I should probably get heading back home. I'd say see ya at school, but I don't think we go to the same one, so I'll just see ya around then." Raising a hand, Riku turned and started to walk off.

"Ikuma-san, wait!" Turning halfway back, Riku raised his eyebrow at Yuuta.

"Yeah?"

"Before you go, can I ask you something?" Yuuta seemed to hesitate, unsure of his words. Nodding with a puzzled look on his face, Riku waited for the question. "Um…I was wondering…since your name is…are you …I mean…" Trailing off, an embarrassed blush crossed Yuuta's cheeks. Realizing what he was hinting at, Riku sighed lightly and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm the grandson of the owner of Ikuma Sporting Goods. Just don't go spreading it around." A look of distaste flashed across Riku's face. That was another reason he wasn't exactly fond of Japan-everyone knew the name Ikuma and what it meant, whereas in Italy the name wasn't as well known so he could live his life without the expectations of others pressing down on him. Shaking his head lightly, Riku pulled his attention away from his thoughts and back to Yuuta who was giving him a confused look. Messing with his hair, Riku breathed out deeply before continuing.

"Look, I'm not exactly fond of being recognized for the name Ikuma. In fact, next time we meet, call me by my first name. I know that's not really the custom here in Japan, but since I grew up in Italy it's what I'm used to anyway. I know you probably don't understand, but-"

"No. I understand more than you think." Yuuta said, cutting Riku off. So he wasn't the only one who was haunted by a name; although, the name Ikuma was certainly a much larger name to be in the shadow of than Fuji Shusuke, but still, to Yuuta, his brother's shadow was already too big.

Seeing that Yuuta wasn't going to push the issue, Riku threw him a grateful smile. "We may have more in common than either of us thought, but honestly, I hate all the mushy-feely stuff, so let's call it good here before disaster strikes and we turn into girls." Holding up a fist, Riku grinned at Yuuta. "Catch ya later then?" Staring at Riku's fist for a moment, Yuuta smirked as he knocked his fist against Riku's.

"Count on it."

*%%*

Feeling her tennis bag bumping against her back and hearing the sound of her shoes slapping against the cement brought a rush of memories back to Alice, memories of times when she would run by herself in Italy, randomly taking turns and getting lost on purpose. She used to think of it as a grand adventure, jogging down streets that she had never seen before, meeting people that she wouldn't meet again. And once she was tired she would either try and find her way back home on her own or call Riku and demand that he gave her instructions on how to get back.

Other times she would run miles just to get to a faraway tennis court, always excited about playing new people. She had come across some of the craziest players with different styles; some she could easily beat, others that would give her a challenge, and the few that would trounce her completely.

Recognizing the next street as one she needed to turn at, she dodged the people waiting to cross and continued on, enjoying the feel of the wind whipping her hair back and the faint burn of her legs. Riku didn't know about her jaunts to tennis courts, didn't know about her playing regularly without him, and once the thought had caused her to feel guilty. She didn't like keeping things from her brother, and she honestly didn't know why she never told him, but now…Alice smiled and picked up her speed a bit, recognizing a restaurant to her side that she remembered was close to her destination, a tennis court called Hyotei Garden.

According to her uncle, who had looked it up, Hyotei Garden was a tennis court that some family had built and donated to Hyotei Gakuen, a middle school in the area, a decade or so ago. The school, in turn, made it a public court when the same family, years later, built a new privet court for the school when the family's heir started there.

It was also a court where the tennis players attending Hyotei came during some practices to play against the general public, also according to the website her uncle had found.

Once she had heard that she might be able to play against some tennis players that were the same age as her, Alice was immediately excited. Tryouts at Yamabuki so far had been rather disappointing, and she was hoping that this tennis excursion would end in a challenge, whether she played someone from Hyotei or not.

Running a few more minutes, Alice turned a corner and saw her goal. To her left was Hyotei Gakuen and to her right was a park. Running until she reached a path leading into the park, Alice started slowing down, beginning her cool down. Walking down the path, holding her arms above her head, she heard the courts before she spotted them tucked behind some trees. There were plenty of people meandering about, and most of the courts looked to be taken by players.  
>Turning onto the grass, Alice dropped her arms and swung them at her side. The tennis courts were in excellent condition for being at least a decade old. There were three fenced off areas, with each one holding three courts. Grinning in excitement, Alice began walking around, trying to find a good challenge to play against.<p>

Starting for the closest courts, Alice observed a group of players that had her interest. There were a few off to the side of the courts, and three playing. And they were all wearing a blue and white tennis uniform. With an excited smile stretching her lips, Alice started for this group, but about half way there her foot caught on something and she tripped.

Catching her fall with her hands, Alice grunted, grimacing in slight pain. Turning to find what tripped her, she stared at what she found. There was a sleeping girl. She had a dull orange hair color and was wearing the uniform she had seen the others wearing, so Alice assumed that she was a part of that team. What was most noticeable, though, was the fact that she was _still_ _sleeping_ and she had tripped over the kid.

Turning Alice knelt at her side, glaring down at her relaxed face. "Wake up," she demanded loudly. Raising an eyebrow when she didn't receive even a twitch, she poked the kid's forehead. "Wake up," She demanded again -nothing.

Huffing, she poked the girl's cheek. "Wake up kid!" Now more amused than angry, Alice began poking her repeatedly. First her other cheek, then the side of her neck. When she got no results from that, Alice started to poke the girl's sides, trying to find a ticklish spot that would wake her up, but the most she got was a tired wave of the girl's hand and a yawn. The kid was _still_ asleep.

"Ore-sama demands to know what you are doing to Ore-sama's player." Jumping slightly, Alice turned and smiled sheepishly at the purple/grey haired boy in front of her. He was wearing the blue and white team uniform, and was surrounded by boys that were wearing the same thing.

"Em," Alice twisted her hands together and glanced at the sleeping girl, "I'm trying to wake her up."

"Ore-sama does not find this answer good enough." He glared down at Alice, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, though there was faint amusement in his eyes. "Ore-sama demands that you explain why."

"We-ell," she drew the word out, glancing at the sleeping girl again. "I was walking over to the tennis courts and tripped over her. At first I wanted to wake her up to tell her to move, so she was out of the way or something," shrugging, Alice poked the kid's forehead again, "but as you can see, she won't wake up, and after that…"

"After that, what?" A different kid demanded. Alice turned to him, noting his long brown hair and cold expression. Blinking quickly, Alice tried to organize her thoughts enough that she could answer him.

"After that, I was having too much fun to stop. Have you ever tried to poke someone over and over and over again?" Considering the long haired boy Alice slowly allowed a smile to cross her lips, devious thoughts playing games with her plans. "You know what?" she told him," I'll let you try it with me." Hopping up Alice flounced over to the long haired boy grabbed his arm, dragging him over to a tall, dark skinned boy with short black hair.

"Perfect!" she announced, beaming over at the frustrated boy she was clinging to. "Okay, so first you curl all of your fingers into a fist but your pointer finger, like so." Alice demonstrated, holding her finger up.

"Come on Shishido-san, curl your fist like demonstrated." A short girl Alice hadn't noticed earlier exclaimed around her laughter, jumping up and down around the long haired kid, her short red hair flying around her. Shishido growled and shook his head, crossing his arms.

"No way!" Alice winked at the red haired girl behind Shishido's back before turning back to him.

"Fine," she smiled, leering dramatically up at him, "I'll just poke you instead." Just as she was pulling her arm back to poke him, the diva's voice interrupted her.

"Kabaji."

"Usu." The tall, dark skinned boy took a step forward and seized Alice around her shoulders, easily lifting her up and placing her back down beside the sleeping girl.

Staring at Kabaji for a moment, Alice tried to process what just happened. "That was… unexpected," she finally murmured, rubbing her upper arms. She shook her head and glanced back down, giving the sleeping girl a perplexed look and ignoring the choking sounds coming from the mass of boys and the laugh from the purple/grey haired leader. Alice crouched back down and poked the girl again.

"How in the world is she still asleep?" She asked the group of players, finally admitted defeat at waking the girl up. Shaking her head again, Alice made to stood back up; happily taking the helping hand that was offered to her by the purple/grey haired guy. "Thanks Ore-sama-san," she chirped. The players behind the purple/grey haired leader sputtered again.

The dubbed 'Ore-sama-san' stared down at the Alice in what she perceived to be amusement and nodded in acknowledgement of her thanks. "While Ore-sama does not believe that girls should go around poking other people and trying to coerce someone else into joining you, you amuse Ore-sama, and so you are graciously forgiven for your grievous actions."

"Oh." Alice stared at trees beyond the players, trying to think back and remember if she had apologized for her actions before shrugging and giving it up for a lost cause. "Thanks Ore-sama-san… I think." Ignoring the disbelieving players and the chuckling diva, she stepped around the group and started for the courts again.

"Wait, Peasant!" Stopping mid-step, Alice mouthed the word 'peasant' to herself, amused. Turning on her heal, laughing, she gave her attention to Ore-sama-san.

"Yes?"

"You play tennis." What Alice thought should have been a question came out of Ore-sama-san as a demand, as if she absolutely had to play tennis because he said so. Laughing again, Alice nodded. This run was turning out to be very amusing, and was doing a great job on getting her back to her old self.

"Good, you will play against one of Ore-sama's players. Ore-sama wishes to see how good you are."

"One of _your_ players? How can they be _your_ players? Aren't you their age?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. Ore-sama-san sniffed, flipping his hair out and posing dramatically.

"Ore-sama is the captain of the Hyotei tennis team." Ore-sama-san smirked at her, "Be awed by my prowess!" he tacked on at the end, his voice dipping into a cool, arrogant timbre. Alice thought about it for a moment before she shook her head.

"I'd like to, ya know?" she told him, shrugging helplessly, "But I'm afraid that I don't fall into awe of people that I don't know. Even you, Ore-sama-san, as cool as you seem… although, this girl," she gestured to the _still_ asleep girl, "I'm kinda in awe of her…" Ore-sama-san, smirk still firmly in place, observed Alice. After a minute of examination, wherein Alice hummed to herself and thought rapidly, waiting for his verdict; and the mass of Hyotei players talked quietly, throwing odd looks at the Alice.

"Very well!" Ore-sama-san suddenly exclaimed. "At some point Ore-sama will prove Ore-sama's prowess to you, Peasant, but until then Ore-sama demands that you play one of his players." Turning to look at Ore-sama-san's players, Alice observed them carefully. Most of them looked fairly confident, and it would be fun to crush the arrogance she saw out of any of them…

"You got a deal, Ore-sama-san."

*%%*

Humming to herself, Alice put her racket away and took a gulp from her water bottle, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand when she was done. The game had gone well, with her winning, but Alice had heard the long haired boy from earlier say that the boy she had played against wasn't really a regular, so she expected that some of the other boys would be better competition. Idly she wondered when she would get the chance to play Hyotei in one of the tournaments.

"Well, Ore-sama has decided that you are worth Ore-sama's time." Turning to the diva, Alice blinked at the proffered cellphone.

"Umm…" Ore-sama-san rolled his eyes and shook the phone a bit.

"Ore-sama is offering you a chance to regularly be in Ore-sama's presence, Peasant. You are funny, good at tennis, and aren't a squealing fan girl or a yelling hater girl. You should be awed at Ore-sama's generosity." Snorting, Alice took the phone, digging hers out from her pocket and offering it to him. Quickly typing her number in under the name of 'Peasant', Alice handed the phone back.

Taking her own phone back, Alice noted that he had added his number in under 'Ore-sama', shaking her head in amusement, something she seemed to do a lot around him; she changed it to 'Ore-sama-san' before snapping her phone shut.

"Thanks for the amusing afternoon Ore-sama-san, but I better get home before it's dark out, and it's a pretty long run back." Nodding his agreement Ore-sama-san escorted Alice to the edge of the park.

"We shall meet again, Peasant." He pretty much demanded.

"Sure thing, Ore-sama-san." The two nodded goodbye and Alice set off, heading back the way she came.

*%%*

Staring at his front door, Riku let out a breath that he'd been holding. Yeah, he was ready to go back in. After running around and playing a match with Yuuta his head had cleared considerably. Slowly opening the door, Riku walked in and shut it behind him. After taking off his shoes he walked into the living room where Uncle was sitting on the couch. Walking up to him, Riku cleared his throat. Putting down the book he was reading, Uncle looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. Something was off.

"Uncle, I'm sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you when you were just trying to help." Riku said apologetically, lowering his gaze from his Uncle's eyes to the floor after a moment. Lowering his raised eyebrow, Uncle allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. He didn't know what had happened to Riku while he was out, but it had obviously had a positive effect on him. Getting up, he placed his hand on Riku's head and ruffled his hair fondly.

"As long as you understand that you're forgiven, but you need to apologize to everyone, not just me."

"I know Uncle." Looking up as the hand was removed from his head, Riku smiled at his pseudo uncle. "I'll go put my stuff up in my room and start from there. Do you know where Alice is?"

"Yep. She's in her room." Uncle said, watching Riku nod as he turned to leave. Smiling, he settled back down onto the couch and picked his book, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, back up. Things were finally beginning to look up.

*%%*

Having put his tennis bag away, Riku walked down the hall and knocked gently on the door to his sister's room which was next to his. Not hearing a response, Riku placed his hand on the doorknob. "Alice? Can I come in?" Slowly opening the door, Riku spotted his sister flopped on top of her bed with wet hair, staring at a piece of paper. "What's that?" Riku asked, walking into the room.

"It's a new map. Uncle brought me it…" Alice trailed off, her voice cool as she put the map away as Riku walked over.

"Ah." Riku nodded slightly. "Can I join you?" Shifting over a bit, Alice made a spot next to her on the bed that Riku sat down on.

"I thought you were sick of being around me all the time." Alice finally ventured, her voice sarcastic and bitter, breaking the silence that had come over the two of them.

"About that; I'm sorry Alice. I said some things I shouldn't have earlier." Riku's face had turned a deep red. Having a mouth that ran faster than his brain could think really did cause trouble at every possible turn.

A long silence permeated the room and out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw Alice's stiff form as she stared out the window. As seconds turned into minutes without an answer, Riku worried that Alice would hold her first grudge against him.

"You know, I'd forgotten how different we are," Riku ventured, testing the waters. At Alice's continued silence Riku slumped slightly, turning to watch the clock. At around the ten minute mark Alice's form finally relaxed and she leaned back onto her elbows, giving Riku a side-ways smile. "It's okay. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have clung to you for dear life like I have been." Chuckling lightly, relaxed now, Riku laid back on Alice's bed.

"It's a good thing we're siblings and not boyfriend-girlfriend like Lucky-san thought, or I'd probably have to kiss you to finish this entire 'making up' process."

"Yuck!" Alice said, pulling a face as she shoved Riku in the shoulder. "Way to kill the mood Riku."

"What? Isn't this mood better anyways? You know neither of us is a fan of the touchy-feely thing." Turning his head to look at Alice, Riku threw her a cheeky grin. "Or is there another motive to you following me around like a lost puppy lately?"

"Riku!" Sitting up, Alice grabbed one of her pillows and whacked Riku in the face with it, but even though she sounded angry, the grin on her face gave her away. This mood was definitely better, and much more like the relationship they shared back in Italy. Holding up his hands, Riku defended himself until Alice's arms got tired and she put the pillow back and flopped back down, sighing…Italy.

"Ya know, the weather here really sucks." Riku said a moment later, smirking slightly as if he could read his sister's mind. "Much worse than Italy." Alice laughed, nodding her agreement.

"And I keep expecting some of our cousins to just come flouncing in the door, not knocking, as usual." Riku continued with his hands behind his head.

Alice laughed again, closing her eyes, trying to imagine her family back in Italy. "It feels weird here," she told her brother, "not seeing any family. And the phone is usually ringing off the walls by now."

"Yeah, Nonna would always call to ask us how to use the computer." Riku agreed, "And one of our aunts and Mom would always be on the phone, talking about their latest gig, or someone would be calling for Dad…" the Riku trailed off, and the two twins got lost in memories.

"I want to go home." Alice whispered, fighting off tears.

"Me too." Riku murmured back. It would take more than a couple hours of fun to completely change his opinion about this place. Italy was, and still would be what he considered home, and that wouldn't change for quite some time.

*%%*

The group of students was once again clumped together in front of the three coaches and last year's regulars. The second day of tryouts was only marginally harder than the first day with Riku and Alice once again winning all of their games. Now it was the end of the tryouts for the top eight boys and the top eight girls, and the head coach, Banji, was waiting for everyone to quiet down so that he could announce the 16 players that made it and when the regular tryouts would begin.

Riku and Alice looked around, annoyed at the students who didn't seem to notice that everyone was waiting for them. Those students slowly trailed off one by one, blushes covering their cheeks. Banji finally cleared his throat to silence the last few.

"Thank you. Now, Watanabe-sempai and Takahashi-sempai will announce the top eight players for the girl's and boy's teams that have made it. Remember, if you didn't make it don't be discouraged. Once the regular tryouts are done, there may be a spot or two open that you can challenge for." Banji stepped back and Watanabe stepped forward, looking down at the clipboard in her hands.

"The top eight girls are: Aoki Aya, Fujita Chizu, Gotò Ayame, Hasegawa Rinko, Ikuma Alice, Maeda Eiko, Nakajima Akako, and Yamashita Aira. If you do not make, or do not plan on trying out for the regulars, our first practice will be next Thursday with Wednesday open for challenges in case a girl makes the regular team." The girl's coach stepped back and the boy's coach took her place, also looking down at a clip board.

"The top eight boys are: Fugiwara Eiichi, Ikuma Riku, Ino Gen, Inoue Haruka, Kato Hideaki, Kimura Kazo, Suzuki Minoru, and Yamamoto Tadashi. Next Monday will begin challenges for regulars that may be kicked off of the regular team, and boys that feel they deserve another chance to get onto the representative's team. Tuesday will be our first practice."

Excited whispers and moans of disappointment immediately started, many of the students turned to their neighbors and talked excitedly or bonded together with mutual disappointment. Alice and Riku simply shared smug glances before turning their attention to Banji, who was once again waiting in front of the students.

Once the clamor had fallen and everyone was silent, Banji made his announcements. "Yes, yes, congratulations to you all for making it past the first set of tryouts. To those of you who made it to the top eight of your gender, if you would please stay behind for a few minutes. Everyone else is dismissed." Alice and Riku shifted through the leaving students to stand closer to the head coach along with the other fourteen players that were asked to stay.

"Once again, congratulations to you all. Tomorrow and Thursday is the start of the regular tryouts, so if you are planning on trying out, please raise your hand and we will mark down your names." Alice, Riku, and six other students raised their hands and dutifully gave their names when asked.

"Great, for the rest of you, your first assignment as the representatives for the boy's and girl's teams is to help out at the tryouts as judges, so read up on the rules tonight." Banji beamed at the students. "I expect to see you all here tomorrow, bright and early!" With that Banji bowed slightly and he, the rest of the coaches, and the regulars all scattered, going home.

Alice and Riku took their time gathering their stuff and were one of the last few to leave the courts.

"So, did you play any of those boys?" Riku nodded his head.

"Yeah, I played three of them, but only one of the ones I played is trying out for a regular position. What about you, know any of those girls?" Alice thought about it for a minute, eyebrows scrunched.

"Eh, I don't really remember." Riku didn't have to fake the nonchalance that he was feeling. Alice forgot faces and names quicker than she zoned out. The two walked in silence, lost in their own thoughts before Alice broke it.

"We going to practice tonight?"

"Yup." Alice nodded, following Riku as he changed direction to head to the street courts. They weren't impressed so far with the level of skill shown at Yamabuki Chuu Middle School, but they weren't about to slack their own training.

* * *

><p><strong>CHALLENGE CHALLENGE CHALLENGE CHALLENGE CHALLENGE<strong>. We have decided to start offering a challenge at the end of our chapters that comes with an awesome **PRIZE** if you win. To enter this **CHALLENGE **you have to send in a **REVIEW** that has constructive criticism/what you liked/what you didn't like about this chapter/story in it, along with your **ANSWERS**. If your review is just your answer to the question, you will be disqualified.

Challenge: Guess which split wrote which line. For this challenge, the first person to guess them all correctly or the first person who gets the most correct will win.

(1) "Y-you mean like on a d-date?" Yuuta's entire face was turning a light shade of red.

(2) "After that, I was having too much fun to stop. Have you ever tried to poke someone over and over and over again?"

(3) "Well, Ore-sama has decided that you are worth Ore-sama's time."

(4) "I am _not _hooking you up with my sister."

Prize: A one-shot or drabble with a prompt of your choice.

Rules:

-It has to be a Prince of Tennis fanfic.

-The highest rating we will allow is T.

-Absolutely no slash.

If you win:

-We will notify you and tell you what you need to send us for the one-shot/drabble

* * *

><p><span>Japanese to English dictionary<span>:

aniki: older brother

Usu: yeah

* * *

><p>Well, here's chapter 4! School just started for us on Monday, so expect our updates a tad bit slower than they were before. That being said, our goal is 7-9 days between updates, at the latest, and we're still on that schedule, so here's for hoping we stay on it.<p>

Thanks so much to **Frog-kun**, **Yanza**, and **Neon Genisis** for their absolutely amazing reviews. You guys are pretty much awesome.

Okay, we hope you enjoyed, we hope you take up our challenge, and we hope you review.

~The Splits


	5. Regulars

For all disclaimers, warnings, and other information about this story, please visit **our** profile. Thanks a bunch!

Reviews are great and we love reading them. If you leave a flame we'll use it to roast marshmallows. :)

And for all those interested, we have a **poll** up. Go and answer, it will amuse us.

~The Splits

**Chapter Five**

Regulars

Fifteen people stood in a line before Banji. Five of them were in regular uniforms as the current members of the elite team with their graduating two players off to the side; the other eight were out to steal a spot from one of the regulars if they could manage it. "Alright, since we have an odd number, we'll run four matches at a time, and each of you will play five or six matches throughout the day. This will make it easier for us coaches to monitor your matches and it'll give each of you a small break between playing." He said with a smile. "When your match is over report the final score to either myself, Watanabe-sensei, or Takahashi-sensei. In between your matches stay nearby so you can hear when your name is called.

"Now, you will play some players twice, or even three times, but that is to make sure your first win or loss wasn't a fluke or a whim of luck, but if you make it to tomorrow's tryouts, things will calm down. Are there any questions?" A few seconds passed before Banji turned to Takahashi-sempai. "Well then I'll leave you to get things started." Nodding, Takahashi-sempai stepped forward with a clipboard.

"I'm going to call out the pairs and the court you're assigned to. Once I have read both of your names one of you take a fresh can of balls from Watanabe-sensei and head off to your court to start your match. A representative from either the boy's or girl's team will be there to act as judge. Please limit your warm-up to a few minutes. Those of you not playing may pick a match to watch or stay somewhere nearby so you can be easily found."

From where he stood next to Alice, Riku glanced inauspiciously down the row of players, wondering who his first opponent would be. In some ways he wanted to play the boy he'd played the other day because he knew it would be a quick victory, but at the same time he also really wanted a chance to play one of the regulars right off the bat. Hearing his name called, Riku stepped forward along with another boy named Nishikiori Tsubasa, who was wearing a regular's jersey. Sharing a quick glance with Alice whose eyes seemed to say "No fair, I want to play a regular." Riku retrieved a can of balls from Watanabe-sensei before following Nishikiori to court B.

After setting down their bags and pulling out their rackets Riku broke open the seal on the balls and handed one to Nishikiori while pocketing the other two. "Can we start from the net for our warm-up and work our way back?" Nishikiori asked walking onto the court while he fixed the strings on his racket.

"Sure." Riku replied setting up a little in front of the service line. Taking a ball out of his pocket he lightly hit it over the net so the two could start with some easy volleys. "So, how long have you been a regular?"

"Actually, I'm not _really_ an actual regular." Nishikiori admitted as he tapped the ball back over. "I wasn't on the team last year, but I do go to some of the tournaments as the reserve player. Mostly, though, I'm just the manager for the team. This year, though, I'm hoping to actually make the regulars, or at least officially have the reserve spot." Nodding, Riku returned the ball with a soft backhand volley. He didn't really need to warm-up since he'd already done so with Alice before they came. After a few more volleys Riku asked if it would be alright to move back to the baseline. Saying that was fine with him, Nishikiori took the ball and walked back to the baseline to start a new rally. While they exchanged light strokes, Riku took note of the way Nishikiori hit. His forehand was a bit inconsistent, but had more power than his backhand which was more consistent.

"You know, you have a strange form Ikuma-san." Nishikori commented after a few minutes as he hit a backhand to Riku. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, I get told that a lot." Riku replied as he caught the ball after it bounced once against the court. "Is it okay with you if we move onto serves?"

"That'd be perfect. I was actually about ready to ask you the same thing. Since you have all the balls, you can start." Nishikiori said as he moved to take a receiving position behind the baseline. Deciding to stick to basically flat serves so he wouldn't give away his spin control, Riku served three times from the deuce side making sure to not give away his full power. Nishikiori gathered the balls when he was done and served them back to Riku who took them and did three serves from the add side. Once Nishikiori had done the same, Riku asked if he was good to go.

"Don't you want to warm-up your serve a bit more?" Nishikiori asked as he walked towards the net.

"Not really, but if you want to, I'm fine with that." Riku replied as he walked up to the net as well with the three balls sitting on the face of his racket.

"No, it's alright. So, do you want smooth or rough?" he asked placing the head of his racket against the ground. Looking at the racket for a moment Riku picked smooth. Nishikiori spun his racket and the two watched as it slowed down before tipping over and hitting the court with a clatter. It was smooth.

"Well, you won the spin so what do you want to do?" Nishikiori asked as he picked his racket back up.

"I'll serve." Riku replied easily. "Since I'm serving which side do you want to start on?" Looking up at the sky and the sun for a moment before replying, Nishikiori chose to stay on the side he was on. Nodding, Riku pocketed two of the balls and bounced the third one up and down on his racket as he walked back to the baseline to serve. Taking a minute to look at the courts around him, Riku spotted Alice warming-up with a guy who was also in a regular's jersey on court D. His brown hair was bowl cut and by the look of Alice's body language, he was annoying. The two other matches that were getting ready to start didn't have anybody Riku knew in them, but there was another regular playing on court C.

The girl in charge of being judge for their match called for the official start of the match as Riku began bouncing the ball against the court and catching it repeatedly. Catching the ball again, Riku glanced at Nishikiori before tossing the ball up and bringing up his racket to a loaded position. Tracing the ball with his left hand, Riku watched as his racket came up and smashed into the yellow sphere.

*%%*

Glaring lightly at her opponent, Alice wondered for the hundredth time how he could be so annoying and, not to mention, ugly. He'd said his name was something or other, but Alice had already forgotten. To her he was officially known as Mushroomhead-san. It was only deuce in the first game, but Alice was already letting some of her annoyance slip into her shots, which gave a sharper edge to them. She had seen Riku start his match while she was still warming up and had been able to see from the scoreboard that he had taken the first game before her match even started.

Not to be outdone by her brother, Alice returned Mushroomhead's serve with a sharp, down the line shot that he couldn't even come close to reaching. Sending her a glare, and saying something about it being too early in the match for shots like that, which Alice completely ignored, he served again. Taking it on her backhand side, Alice turned her shoulder and torso into the shot, sending it back as a deep crosscourt shot that landed close to Mushroomhead's feet. He somehow managed to get his racket around the ball and put up a weak return. Letting the ball bounce once, Alice ran up and met the ball using a short swing forehand to send it to the opposite corner before falling back a few steps to return to the baseline. She didn't mind playing at the net when she was playing doubles with Riku because he could back her up, but whenever she played singles Alice preferred to remain at the baseline as much as possible. Alice smirked as the ball slapped into the net from a failed forehand return from Mushroomhead. She had figured that would happen if he managed to reach the ball. The first game was hers. Now to have a little fun.

On the changeover Mushroomhead tried to say something to Alice as he handed her the balls, but she ignored him until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder she raised an eyebrow as if to say "What?"

"You really should give your senpais more respect," Mushroomhead complained in an arrogant tone. "I was telling you that I'm fully warmed up after that first game, so don't expect to win another one this match."

"Senpai?" Alice said in near disbelief. "I'm a third year which means we're either in the same grade or I'm _your_ senpai. Are you implying that I'm childish?"

"Uh, well-well…no, not reall-" he stuttered, surprised to learn that Alice was in the same grade as him. He didn't get to finish though because Alice cut him off.

"You're horrible. I'm not a little kid. I can't believe you'd insult a girl like that." Alice said, sounding upset as she turned and began quickly walking away towards her half of the court, leaving a bewildered Mushroomhead staring after her.

Standing several feet behind the baseline Alice pretended to pull herself together while she adjusted the gut on her racket, since she wasn't really upset in the first place, and watched Mushroomhead out of the corner of her eye to see how her words had affected him. While he was drinking from his water bottle he kept giving her guilty looking glances and spilled some water on his shirt. Muttering, he set his water down and picked his racket back up and tripped over his own feet as he walked back to the receiving position. Making sure he couldn't see her face, Alice allowed herself a small smirk. This guy might be annoying as anything, but he sure was fun to trick. Oh the advantages being a girl could have sometimes.

Checking to make sure she still seemed a little upset, Alice took up a position a few inches behind the baseline and readied for her serve. While bouncing the ball, she threw Mushroomhead a quick hurtful look before serving. Her serve was well placed in the outside corner, sending mushroom head running out past the doubles alley lines to return it with a questionable forehand. Running to the ball, Alice returned it with a slow backhand towards the center line, making sure Mushroomhead would be able to reach it. She felt like dragging this particular point out, to play with his head a bit.

Mushroomhead caught up with and returned the ball using a deep backhand shot with a topspin rotation to it. Taking the ball on her forehand side, Alice hit it several feet to his right, again making sure he could reach it before hitting it the opposite direction on her next shot. This pattern repeated with Alice always hitting the ball far enough away that he had to run for it, but close enough that he was sure to get it. As Mushroomhead began to breathe heavily Alice decided to change things up a bit, and used a shallow forehand to draw him up to the next. Hitting the ball as he stumbled almost imperceptibly, Mushroomhead used his momentum to continue running forward to attack at the net. His only warning was a slight glint in Alice's eyes before the ball whistled passed his ear, hit the court behind him, and bounced away. With her back half turned to him, Alice glared at him out the corner of her eye causing shivers to run down his spine.

"Never." Alice said in a deadly calm voice. "Never insult a girl." And with that she turned away sharply, leaving her opponent to feel her coldness as a prelude to the next point. Just how would he respond to her sudden change in demeanor from being foolishly hurt to silent fury? Alice wasn't sure, but whatever the results it was sure to be interesting. They always were.

*%%*

"How'd your match go?" Alice asked Riku as she walked out of the fence enclosing court D. She'd won 6-3 against her opponent, who upon hearing her call him Mushroomhead-san at the end of the match had loudly shouted that his name was Nitobe Inakichi, not Mushroomhead. Riku had laughed out loud at that. Alice's weird habit of nicknaming people, because she could never remember their real names, had shown up again.

"I won 6-2, but when I was up 4-2 we went to deuce twice and he had a chance to take the game. I got lucky, though, and hit a cord ball that won me that game." Riku said with a nonchalant shrug. "I also managed to keep from showing off my spin control to a minimum, so nobody really knows what I can do in that aspect yet."

"So it was an easy match then?" Alice asked as she looked around for one of the coaches so she could report her score.

"It was the hardest one I've had so far, and it was definitely decent, but not hard." Riku said as they started walking towards Watanabe-sensei. "Nishikiori-san is nice guy, but he lacks confidence in his shots, and I found a couple of flaws in his groundstrokes that I used to my advantage. He did tell me while we were warming up, though, that he's the manager for the regulars, and only rarely played as the substitute in the tournaments, which really makes me want to play some of the others. What about you?"

"Annoying, but he had some interesting reactions. It was okay, I suppose. Definitely the hardest match I've played since tryouts started." Alice said simply. "Hang on. I need to report my score." She said, and walked off before waiting for Riku's answer to tell Watanabe-sensei her score. Riku rolled his eyes and waited for her to return when a voice called him from behind. Turning, Riku found himself looking at Banji, who was smiling like usual.

"Hello there Ikuma-kun. How are things going?" he asked pleasantly.

"Just fine Banji-sensei." Riku replied politely.

"Please just call me Banji. You don't need to add the sensei to it." The old man explained. "Now, I'm not sure how long you've had to rest, but I came to tell you that you need to report to court A for your next match. Since you've already played there won't be a warm-up this time."

"Thanks Banji." Riku said as he readjusted the strap to his tennis bag so it sat more comfortably on his shoulder. "I'll head over there right now." Glancing over his shoulder, Riku saw Alice walking back over and called out to her. "I've got a match on court A right now, so I'll talk to you later." Waiting to see Alice nod, Riku turned and walked towards court A. When he got there, he found a girl waiting for him. Twenty-five minutes later the match was over with Riku having won 6-1. For a girl she was decent, he supposed, but compared to Alice she was horrible and Riku had had little trouble with her. Speaking of Alice, she was busy playing one of the non-regular boys on court B.

After finding Takahashi-sensei and reporting his score Riku felt an arm flung around his shoulder, and heard a somewhat familiar voice in his ear. Sengoku.

"Come on Ikuma-san. Let's go cheer on your sister." Sengoku said in that happy-go-lucky way of his. Glancing at the other matches, Riku shook his head and disentangled himself from Sengoku's arm. There was a match going on between two of the regulars on both courts C and D and Riku wanted to go watch them. He could see Alice play whenever he wanted, and she wouldn't mind if he didn't go cheer for her.

"Sorry Sengoku-san, but I'm going to go watch the matches on courts C and D. You'll have to cheer for Alice by yourself." Riku stated as he started walking away. It only took a second and Sengoku was next to him again.

"But it's your sister. Shouldn't you go cheer her on like a good brother?"

"Why bother when I know she'll win, and it would be better to scout out the regulars that are playing anyway, in case I get put up against one of them in a match which will probably happen." Staring at Riku for a minute, Sengoku blinked and sighed.

"You have a good point there, I suppose, but I'm going to miss watching the girls that are playing. Unlucky." Rolling his eyes, Riku found a good spot to stand that allowed him a good view of both courts while Sengoku followed him. If he was complaining about not getting to watch the girls play, Riku didn't see why he followed him when he could easily go watch the girls play by himself. Not that it was really his problem in the first place, so Riku ignored it and decided to see what he could learn from Sengoku about the regulars that were playing.

"Over there on court C is Nitobe Inakichi, who your sister played earlier, and his opponent is Higashitaka Masami, our new vice-captain. Then there's Minami Kentarou, our new captain, on court D, who's playing Touji Muromachi, the guy with the glasses. His position is singles one." Sengoku explained, answering Riku's questions. "Higashitaka-fukubuchou and Minami-buchou will win for sure. They actually make up our number one doubles team. Everybody calls them The Jimmies."

"Why The Jimmies?" Riku asked as he watch a long rally between the players on court D. Touji-san seemed to be a good player, but first singles? Was he really the best singles player? Watching him play, Riku felt that he'd be able to beat him if they played.

"Nobody really knows." Sengoku replied with a shrug. "It's just what we call them."

"_So they'll be the ones to beat if Alice and I want to play first doubles_." Riku mused, not noticing the strange look Sengoku gave him.

"What did you just say Ikuma-san?" he asked in confusion. "Was that Italian you were speaking just now?"

"Huh? Was I? My bad." Riku said with a shrug of his shoulders after a moment of though. "I can't tell the difference between when I'm speaking Italian and Japanese unless someone else points it out." Riku explained to the doubtful looking Sengoku. "Weird I know, but that's just how it is. Anyways, if they're doubles one then who's doubles two?"

"That'd be Nitobe Inakichi and Kita Ichiuma. Kita-kun is the guy with grayish hair and the red swirl marks on his cheeks that's standing over there." Sengoku said as he pointed the boy out. "Both of our doubles pairs are at the national level, which is one of the things that allows us to use an aggressive lineup in tournaments."

"An aggressive lineup?" Riku asked as he watched Touji-san win a point with a well-placed slice backhand.

"Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't know since you're new around here, but Banji has a very aggressive style. We form our line up with the goal of winning the first three matches against each school we face. In order to do that we need strong doubles teams, and then Banji puts our strongest singles player, which just so happens to be me, in singles three to finish the other team off. " Here Sengoku rubbed the back of his neck, a blush on his cheeks. "It catches a lot of teams off guard because they expect our worst player to play third singles, and our best to play first singles, but we do the opposite."

"Doesn't that cause a problem if you don't win in the first three matches, though?" A voice said from behind Riku. Turning, Riku acknowledged his twin with a nod of his head.

"Hey Alice. How'd your match go?" Riku had no doubt that she'd won easily enough.

"It was too easy. I won 6-1, and he wasn't an interesting opponent at all. He wasn't even worth messing with." She sighed, ignoring the look Riku sent her, used to his annoyance at her treating people like chess pieces, before looking at Sengoku, who'd been trying to edge his way into their conversation unsuccessfully. "Who are you?"

"Ah, this is Sengoku Kiyosumi. He's a third year like us." Riku said as he introduced the two of them. "Sengoku-san, this is my twin sister, Ikuma Alice."

"What? You're twins? I thought Alice-chan-ah, I mean san, was a second year." Sengoku exclaimed as he look back and forth between the two, looking for similarities that ran deeper than just being family-similarities that only twins could have. Meanwhile, Alice examined the orange haired boy critically, noting his lean physique and easy going attitude. At least he didn't seem _too_ annoying.

"Nice to meet you." She performed a quick bow and whipped out her camera, snapping a picture of him before putting her camera away and pulled out her notebook, sticking the picture on a new page and grabbing her pen to write his name down.

"Um…" She looked up at him, sheepish. The orange haired boy didn't get the hint, though.

"Oh, where did that camera come from, Alice-san? Or the notebook? Or the pen?" Riku answered before she could.

"I've been trying to figure that out for years. It'll always be a mystery."

"Really? I'll have to keep a close eye on you then. Hopefully I'll get lucky and find out where you keep them." Riku rolled his eyes, noticing the subtle innuendo Sengoku added, and of course, Alice didn't. She stared down at her notebook, her pen pressed against the page, uncertain.

"He says lucky a lot." He offered, smirking slightly when Sengoku sent him an odd look. Alice hummed, nodding.

"It'll do." She informed them, writing 'Lucky-san' down underneath his picture. She put the notebook away and smiled at Lucky and Riku.

"What-" Lucky was cut off as Banji came over and placed his hands on his and Alice's shoulders. "Ikuma-chan, Sengoku-san, I hope you are both well rested, because you two are playing next, court A."

*%%*

Riku watched, somewhat in awe, as his sister was beaten. She put up a good fight, managing to get four games, but Sengoku finished her there, winning with the score at 6-4. Of course, Alice wasn't showing everything she could do, holding back with a lot of her precision shots and she didn't toy with his mind as much as she did others, and in turn, he figured Sengoku didn't play to his fullest either. He watched his sister shake Sengoku's hand and nod to Banji, who had been watching, before making her way toward him.

"Why'd you hold back so much?" Was the first thing he asked. Alice shook her head at him in mock shame.

"How can we be twins? Sometimes I doubt that you have two brain cells to rub together, let alone an actual brain. You know there's this newfangled thing called thinking, right?" Riku scowled at his sister. She could make a nerd feel dumb if she wanted to.

"Just because some of us over analyze things, doesn't mean we all do." He informed his sister, glaring. Alice scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Poor Riku, making up excuses for his lack of intelligence." She cooed, patting his head. "It's alright, Riku-kins, I'm sure that _Dad _will always love you, at least." Riku glared harder, curling his fingers into fists at his side.

"Just tell me, Alice." She smirked at him, crossing her arms.

"Say please, brother mine." Riku raised an eyebrow, copying her stance.

"Nope." The twins engaged in a staring contest, neither of them looking away from their twin. Finally Alice blinked, her eyes watering.

"Dang." She muttered, rubbing her eyes. Riku smirked triumphantly, rubbing his own eyes.

"Spill." He ordered. Alice nodded, walking over to her bag and putting her racket and purple sweat bands away. She gestured for her brother to follow her and led the way to a bench off to the side. She sat down heavily and pulled out her water bottle, taking a big draught. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before turning to her brother, who had sat down next to her.

"Lucky-san is supposedly the best singles player that Yamabuki has," she started, "and so it is expected of him to win, and we can't afford to beat the best quite yet, Riku, not until we actually make the regulars, at least." At Riku's confused look, Alice rolled her eyes, leaning back into the bench. She surveyed to games going on, sweeping her gaze across the courts.

"That still doesn't explain why you held back as much as you did. You could have pulled out with a better score than you did and though you probably still would have lost, you would have looked better as a player." Riku said, stretching his arms out in front of him before resting them back on the top of the bench.

"I doubt I could have beat him if I had tried my hardest too, that's a given. He's the best singles player for a reason, but add that to the fact that this is just tryouts and it's not prudent for me to show off, since the goal is to simply get onto the team and not win a tournament or something. We're new here Riku." She turned back to him, serious. "I know it isn't your forte or anything, but look closely at the Regulars and tell me what you see."

Riku gave his sister an odd look, but did as she told him nonetheless. He observed the regulars that weren't playing; they all stood together, at least loosely, and were watching the matches. He turned back to his sister. "I don't know what I'm looking for." He admitted. Alice nodded, looking at him, considering something. Finally she turned back to the courts.

"Over there." She pointed to the far side of the courts where the two regulars that would be graduating after the summer were watching the matches. "The one on the far right is last year's captain, and the one next to him is the vice-captain." She paused, before sweeping her finger over to the regulars that needed to try out. "The one with spiky brown hair is this year's captain, and the stern one with black hair is the vice-captain, but, if you watch carefully, they aren't the only ones that the old captain and vice-captain are watching." Alice trailed off, watching the regulars. Riku tried to follow the old captain's eyes to see who he was watching, but couldn't pinpoint who it was. He wasn't used to people watching like Alice. All he knew was that he wasn't watching the games. Giving up, he gave his sister a questioning look.

"They're watching Lucky-san, and The Jimmies." She told her brother, pointing to the people mentioned. "The best people on the team." She added. She turned toward her brother, catching his gaze.

"There is a hierarchy here, Riku, with Lucky-san and The Jimmies at the top, and to upset that hierarchy by even _almost_ winning against one of the top is a bad idea. We're new here, and we don't need unnecessary resentment from the team." She gave her brother a significant look. "And trust me, we would gain resentment for showing our true skills when we aren't even on the team yet." She paused, relaxing at the dawning understanding in her brother's eyes.

"You remember our team back in Italy, right?" Not waiting for her brother to answer the rhetorical question, Alice continued. "You saw how they treated people that played us on the street courts that beat us or were even came close to beating us; they treated them like they were…" Alice trailed off, looking for the right way to describe it.

"They felt threatened." Riku murmured, thinking back to his old team. "Even though they couldn't possibly try out for our team, they felt like if they beat us or them, they were a threat out to take their spots."

"And they treated them accordingly." Alice nodded, smiling at her brother. "It's irrational to the extreme, but no one likes a no-body to be better than them. So, Riku, my point is, if we went out there and played Lucky-san or the Jimmies our hardest, threatening them, they will resent us… they will…" Alice searched for words again. "I guess they would finally realize that they could be kicked off of the regulars and be demoted to the representative teams, which could be a shock. They're nationally ranked players, after all. So, if we simply target the non-regulars, and the regulars that we want to take the place of, the doubles two team, we can scrape by these tryouts without any bad will." Alice beamed at her brother.

Riku stared at Alice, bemused. "How do you know they would react that way? Not every tennis player is a sore loser Alice." Alice slumped back, disappointed.

"It's not that they would be sore losers Riku, it's that the hierarchy would be upset by newbies! One of them a _girl_. Why don't you get this?" Alice threw her hands into the air, exasperation coloring her tone. "They're not mean or whatever, it's just, like… human nature! They'd be _scared_ if we could beat their best or almost beat their best that easily. If we were at a school with less of a hierarchy and all of the players were more evenly matched, then it wouldn't be a problem, but _here_ it is." Riku smiled, amused at his sister's frustration. Sometimes, like in this case, the things she found to be so important meant absolutely nothing to him. Holding up his hands defensively, Riku accepted what Alice had said before she could rant again.

"Alright, I get it I get it. Pretend to try my hardest with Sengoku-Lucky-san," he changed when he saw her confused look, "and The Jimmies, and beat everyone else. Will do!" He mock saluted his sister, still amused. Alice rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing her bag.

"Good." She told her brother curtly, walking away from him. "Because your name was just called for court C."

Grabbing his things, Riku got up and started walking towards court C, but not before stealing a glance at Sengoku and The Jimmies. Hierarchy huh? Alice might care about stuff like that, but honestly Riku really couldn't care less, so he never really paid attention to it in the first place. Sure, he'd pretend he did for his sister so she didn't freak out at him…again, but really, tearing down the hierarchy that had been so carefully built up sounded…fun. Smirking, Riku pulled a coin out of his pocket and began rolling it across his knuckles while he walked. Alice had better not expect him to remain complacent for _too_ long.

*%%*

"Good work everyone!" Banji beamed at the students. "What an excellent first day. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to give some bad news now. The following players lost three or more of their matches today, and so aren't qualified to return to tryouts tomorrow: Fugiwara Eiichi, Ino Gen, Inoue Haruka, Fujita Chizu, Gotò Ayame, and Hasegawa Rinko. Thank you for participating today, and remember that after you improve yourselves you may challenge for a spot." The six players nodded, determination painting their features. Banji excused them and turned his attention to the remaining players, particularly Alice and Riku.

"Congratulations you two, you are the only two non-regular participants that have made it for day two." Alice and Riku beamed at him and gave each other a high five to the other students' amusement. Banji chuckled, smiling down at them warmly before his smile returned to his normal one and he turned his gaze to all of his students.

"Tomorrow, two of you will not make the team." A tense, competitive silence fell over the group. "So, I expect you to prepare yourselves for a grueling day. Tryouts tomorrow will be elimination based; the two players with the most losses will not make the team, though they are welcome to sign up as the team's manager and play as the reserve player." Alice and Riku exchanged looks, excited and nervous. The rest of their day had been filled with smashing the non-regular players, and holding back against most of the regulars. It had been an exercise of patience and a balance of skill, and tomorrow was the day they hoped it would pay off.

At this point, combined, they had played all of the regulars, and both were quite happy with the level of skill shown. Of course, they didn't win against either of The Jimmies or Sengoku, but both had won against the others with differing levels of ease.

"With that being said, go home and get a good night's rest." Banji said, dismissing them. The students all bowed and hurried off, the twins included.

*%%*

"Alice, Antonio." The twins looked up from their feet, turning toward their mother. They had just gotten home and the rush of the first day of tryouts had worn off and all they were left with were straining muscles.

Mrs. Ikuma smiled at her kids tenderly, "I'm sure you two are tired, but it _is_ dinner time and your father and I have to speak with you." Alice and Riku exchanged looks, a feeling of dread in their stomachs. The last time their parents had needed to speak to them, they had been informed of their oji's death and their move to Japan. They gulped but nodded, walking back down the stairs, making their way to the kitchen.

Once everyone had taken a seat at the table, except Uncle, who was mysteriously missing, Mrs. Ikuma sat a big bowl of spaghetti in the middle of the table, with rolls off to one side and fruit on the other. "Eat first." She told them, "We'll talk after." Mr. Ikuma and the kids nodded in acceptance, passing the food around the table for everyone to grab.

Throughout the meal, Alice tried to get one of her parents to let something slip about what they needed to talk to the twins about, but was unsuccessful. Riku didn't even bother trying. If Alice couldn't get them to spill there was no way he'd be able to do it. Once everyone had eaten their fill, and all the dishes and food had been taken care of, the family sat back down around the table.

From where he sat, Mr. Ikuma cleared his throat, a resigned look on his face. "Kids…" He paused, rubbing his forehead. "You're not going to be happy about this, but for dinner tomorrow we're all heading up to your grandparent's house." Riku and Alice stared at their father, eyes wide.

"Dad…" Alice hesitatingly started. Mrs. Ikuma shook her head, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Alice, it's one night. You can survive that." Alice nodded glumly, head down. It's not like their grandparents would take no for an answer anyway.

"Now," Mr. Ikuma continued. "You two know the drill. No talking about Alice playing tennis, no back talking your grandparents, only talk when spoken to, and be on your best behavior." Mr. Ikuma gave his kids a stern look, only relaxing when they nodded their agreement.

"This sucks." Riku murmured, resting his chin on his hand. Alice made a noise of agreement and Mr. and Mrs. Ikuma traded tired looks.

"Now that we're in Japan, we're going to see a lot more of your father's side of the family." Mrs. Ikuma told her children. "And I know it's not fun, but your grandparents are hardworking people, and they-" Alice cut her mother off.

"They _have_ our respect Mom. We just don't _like_ them." Mrs. Ikuma sighed, but nodded.

"Just try and get home as soon as you two can so that you have time to clean up, but we did tell Sofu that we would be later than usual." Alice and Riku nodded, trying to smile at their parents. When they were excused the twins immediately got up and headed toward the stairs, calling out a goodnight to their parents.

Once upstairs Alice headed toward the bathroom that Riku and she shared, while Riku headed toward the bathroom in his parent's room, both intent on taking a shower. Once toweled off and in their pajamas Riku and Alice met briefly in the hall.

They stared at each other in silence for a moment, glum, before Riku sighed and turned toward his bedroom.

"See ya in the morning Alice."

"'Night Riku." Alice turned toward her own bedroom. She didn't quite know why they had met only to say goodnight, but it had almost seemed like a final farewell between the two. Which was ridiculous, since they had tryouts all day tomorrow before the execution.

Alice shrugged to herself and lay down in her bed, pulling the covers up to her nose and curling onto her side. She closed her eyes and relaxed her body, trying to think about nothing. They had a long day tomorrow, and she wouldn't let the thought of her grandparents keep her up.

*%%*

Riku panted, adjusting his grip as he returned to the base line to fall into the receiving position. It seemed that all of the regulars were holding back on the first day, and were letting loose on the second, because he didn't think that Minami Kentarou, the new captain and one of The Jimmies, had given him this much trouble yesterday, and he had lost then. He had also played Touji Muromachi, the singles one player, earlier, and while he had won, Touji had definitely shown skill that he hadn't yesterday. Of course, because of Alice, Riku still had his better skills sealed off; although, nobody other than Alice knew that. Anyone else watching the match thought Riku was going all out, which wasn't the case at all. His parents always said Riku would get an 'A' in acting if he ever took it. The exhaustion he was showing was only half real, and he was purposely not making it to shots that would normally be easy for him to reach. Since his true speed was still unknown to everyone _but_ Alice, Riku figured that would be a good way to keep it…for now at least.

A few minutes later the match ended with Riku losing 4-6, the highest score Alice said he could have right now against Sengoku or either of The Jimmies. After shaking hands with the captain, Riku went to refill his water bottle at the drinking fountains. Alice met him there.

"_Good match_," Alice said in Italian so anyone nearby couldn't understand. "_Almost too good. You nearly took a fifth game off of him there Riku! Be a little more careful, would ya? Someone could figure out that we've been holding back._" She scolded. Rolling his eyes as he capped his water bottle, Riku turned to face his sister.

"_Relax Alice. I made sure not to take that game from him. You can call me dense all you want, but I'm not an idiot. I knew what I was doing. I'm wounded that you don't trust your own twin._" He joked as they started walking back towards the courts. "_Besides when we play doubles together, that is._" He added with a smirk. Slapping Riku on his arm Alice rolled her eyes, but inside she was smiling. Riku was starting to joke around again, which was a good thing.

Hearing the name Ikuma being called, Alice and Riku stopped before turning around to see Watanabe-sensei walking towards them.

"There you are. Court B just opened up. Report there immediately and get started with your match." She said before beginning to turn to leave.

"Excuse me Watanabe-sensei." Alice said before the woman could walk off. "You didn't say which one of us is playing." Turning back, Watanabe-sensei looked at the two of them before nodding in understanding.

"I guess I wasn't very clear, was I? _Both_ of you need to report to court B- you're playing each other. Well, if you'll excuse me I need to go find some other players and notify them of their matches." She said, turning and walking off. Alice and Riku looked at each other in momentary shock before recovering.

"Well, I guess we should get going then." Riku said as he started towards court B. "I have to admit though, the thought never really crossed my mind that we might play each other." Nodding in agreement, Alice followed after her brother. "_Just make sure you don't start to play seriously against me. Keep it at the level you've been using against Lucky-san and The Jimmies._"

"Whatever you say Your Highness." Riku teased as he opened the gate to court B. "It still doesn't change the fact that you're going to lose."

The match was well played considering the fact that both players were holding back, and ended with Riku winning 6-4. Anyone who wasn't busy with a match of their own had stopped to watch the twins play, curious as to which newcomer was better. Curiosity sated, the few people watching dispersed and the rest of the tryouts passed by quickly.

*%%*

Except for The Jimmies and Sengoku, who had gone undefeated during tryouts, everyone was feeling a nervous tension as they stood in front of the silent coaches and graduating regulars. The tryouts had been close, too close. Riku pulled a coin from his pocket and rolled it across his fingers while Alice shifted her weight from foot-to-foot. Finally after what seemed like an eternity Banji stepped forward to address the players.

"First I would like to say good job to all of you." Alice sucked in a breath and rolled her eyes, why did they have to bother with this? She just wanted to hear the names of the regulars, because while she was pretty sure that Riku and she had made it, the wait played with her perceptions. "Each and every one of you played hard and did your best out there, but unfortunately not all of you can become regulars." An uneasy silence settled on the students, and some of them shifted restlessly from foot to foot.

"Now I know that you all want me to get on with telling you who made the regular team…" Banji beamed at them all as he paused, and Alice decided right then that the smiling sensei was just cruelly toying with them.

"So, I shall start." The hopefuls tensed up and stared at the head coach, collectively holding their breath. "First, we have Minami Kentarou, our new captain." Minami stepped forward and shook Banji's hand before moving to shake the other coach's hands as well. He then stepped to the side next to the graduating regulars, excepting their congratulations.

"Next we have Higashitaka Masami, our new vice-captain." Higashitaka followed the captain's example and shook everyone's hands.

"Sengoku Kiyosumi. Tougi Muromachi. Nishikiori Tsubasa." One by one the new regulars were called up and congratulated. Riku felt Alice grab his hand and he gripped it tight, only two more spots. "Ikuma Alice." Alice felt relief poor through her, giving her the courage to let go of Riku's hand. She stepped up to Banji and beamed up at him.

"Congratulations Ikuma-chan." Alice nodded and shook his hand and moved onto the girl's coach and then the guy's coach before joining the other regulars.

"You made it Alice! Lucky, we have a girl on the team." Alice beamed at Lucky-san and went to shake his hand when he glomped her into a huge bear hug. Before she had the chance to wriggle free of Sengoku's hug and shake the others' hands, she heard:

"And our last regular is Ikuma Riku." Watching as Riku shook hands with Banji, the coaches, and the other regulars, Alice high-fived him when he reached her, identical grins on their faces. With all of the new regulars announced only two players were left standing with disbelief on their faces. Nitobe Inakichi and Kita Ichiuma, the number two, nationally ranked, doubles team of Yamabuki hadn't made the cut for regulars. A moment of silence hung awkwardly in the air before the two rounded on Banji, exploding.

"What do you mean we haven't made it?"

"Ya, what are you going to do for doubles two now?"

"We're national level players; those newbies couldn't have beat us out!"

"What were you thinking?"

"She's a girl!"

"-could a girl-"

"How could she-"

"-must have been a mistake!"

"-can't be-"

"-no-"

"Banji!" They yelled together. Everyone was staring at them while Alice and Riku shared a glance and a subtle nod. These two were annoying and needed to be shut up, but not today because they were tired and had to go to their grandparents for dinner.

"I'm sorry Nitobe-kun, Kita-kun, but you two had the most losses of anyone here." Banji replied calmly. "Doubles two will be worked out along with the rest of the positions at the first practice which will be on Monday." He turned to Alice and Riku, "Think of it like another tryout, you two need to decide which spot you would like and be prepared to play for that spot." Banji turned to address Nitobe and Kita. "Once the summer tournament is over you can submit challenges to try and earn back your spots on the regular team. Until then practice hard so you'll be ready to challenge." The two boys scowled but nodded, crossing their arms and glaring at the other players, especially Alice. "You two boys also need to remember that you will still be practicing with us until after the summer tournament, which you will still be participating in." Banji smiled at the whole team once more before he dismissed them.

Alice and Riku managed to leave the school and get about a block away before they stopped and beamed at each other.

"We made it!" Alice exclaimed, glomping her brother. Riku laughed and nodded, hugging her back.

"Duh. It's not like there was any other option to start with. Now, will you get off me already?" Smirking deviously, Alice only hugged Riku tighter.

"Nope."

"And just why not?" Riku asked somewhat breathlessly since Alice was crushing his ribs.

"One, because I'm really happy right now, and two, it annoys you."

"Alice." Riku said between clenched teeth. His only response was the shaking of his sister's body as she burst into a fit of giggles all while still not letting go. Great…just great.

*%%*

"Kids, are you ready?" Riku made a face at his closed door, smoothing down his button up shirt and ruffling his wet hair.

"No." He muttered to himself, before opening his door and walking toward his sister's. "We'll be right down, Mom." He called loud enough for her to hear. Reaching his sister's door, Riku found it open and his sister sitting on the floor, feet sprawled out in front of her. She was wearing a white dress that fell to about mid-thigh -though that could have been because she was sitting -with gold leggings underneath. He shook his head slightly, knowing that Sobo would be displeased with the outfit. He decided not to mention that to his sister, though, knowing that she probably picked that outfit just because of Sobo's reaction.

"Come on, Alice, we have to go." His twin nodded and gracefully climbed to her feet. She went to her closet and dug up some shoes before turning to her brother.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Alice said, following her brother out the door and down the stairs where their parents were waiting. Mr. and Mrs. Ikuma inspected their kids, wincing slightly at Alice's choice of outfits.

"Don't you want to wear something a little more… well, something Sobo would approve of Alice? You know she doesn't like leggings or short dresses." Mrs. Ikuma asked.

"She also hates short hair," Alice smiled up at her parents, swirling her hair around her fingers, "but you don't see me letting it grow out. No, this will be fine." Her parents sighed but nodded, ushering their children out the door.

"I can't believe that us making the regulars is going to be celebrated by going to our grandparent's house." Riku commented idly. Alice hummed in agreement, nodding her head.

"Something does seem really wrong about this situation." She added, hands sliding down her dress as if looking for pockets to stuff her hands in. Mr. Ikuma smiled down at his children.

"We'll celebrate tomorrow kids, don't worry." Riku and Alice nodded their agreement and climbed into the car, buckling their seatbelts and relaxing back into their seats.

"At least it's not a long drive." Alice told her brother who nodded in agreement, staring out the window.

"At least." He murmured. His parents climbed into the front seats and his father started the car, pulling out of the driveway. The car ride was spent with Mr. and Mrs. Ikuma talking quietly and the twins staring out their windows, silently dreading what was to come.

About twenty minutes later Mr. Ikuma pulled into a long driveway, driving another five minutes, before stopping in front of what could only be described as a mansion. Elaborate looking gardens surrounded the house, and expensive lawn ornaments and fountains decorated the grass.

"Still looks as tacky as ever." Riku observed. His parents sent him scolding looks, but he just shrugged. "It does." He told them.

The Ikuma family climbed out of the car and started for the front door, all of their expressions shifting to a haughty, rich one. "I feel like a well-trained monkey." Alice whispered to her brother out of the corner of her mouth.

Riku nodded, "No kidding." They stopped to the side of their parents, who had just rung the doorbell. A butler answered and escorted them in, taking their mother's purse and their father's jacket; he informed them that he would go notify his Master and Mistress that their guests had arrived, before he left the room.

Alice looked around the room, noting that the expensive Persian rug was still there, and all of the vases on little tables were the same as well. The room was no longer a cream color though, but now had marble on the walls, coating the room in green and black. Alice idly wondered if it was fake or real, but didn't get the chance to find out as her grandparents had just entered the room.

Sofu was dressed in an expensive lounging outfit, which consisted of a three button suit and a dark blue tie. Sobo was wearing a traditional Japanese kimono that was red on top and slowly faded into black on the bottom. It also had Japanese cherry blossoms twisting around the kimono. To Alice, it looked like something that belonged in a museum, never to see the light of day again, but that was how Sobo always dressed.

"Father, Mother." Mr. Ikuma stepped forward and bowed before giving his mother a light hug.

"Son." Riku and Alice watched what was happening, but made no move to great their grandparents, knowing that it would seem impolite of them to greet their elders without first being greeted themselves.

"The game of playing politics begins." Alice thought grimly, folding her hands in front of her and bowing her head slightly. She was more than willing to risk her grandparent's wrath about her hair and clothing choices, but she would never actually act out in front of them. That would be suicide.

They greeted Riku first, and spent a moment talking with him, asking about his goings on and his tennis. They also made sure to ask about whether he was keeping up with his business practice, and if he had gone with Mr. Ikuma to the office lately. Riku performed admirably and answered their questions as politely as he could, making sure he was addressing their question and not going off on tangents.

Sobo immediately sniffed upon seeing Alice, her nose wrinkled as if she had smelled something bad. "Suzume." She finally greeted. Alice turned toward her grandmother and bowed, not too low to suggest brown-nosing, but not high enough that she would seem disrespectful.

"Sobo."

"Goodness child, what are you wearing?" Alice arose from her bow and refolded her hands in front of her, hiding her triumph at making her grandmother lose her composure behind a neutral expression.

"It is all the rage amongst my peers, Sobo. I apologize if it isn't quite to your tastes, and will make sure that I never wear it again, if that is to your agreement." Sobo sniffed again, but nodded, turning her attention back to her parents.

Alice let a quick smirk curl her lips before she suppressed it. Not only had she befuddled her grandmother, she also made sure she turned her attention away from her quickly, not asking any questions. Score one for Alice, score zip and zero for Sobo.

The Japanese-Italian family followed the elder Mr. and Mrs. Ikuma to the family dining room, which was not to be mistaken for the formal dining room. The elder Mr. Ikuma knelt at the head of the dining table, with his wife to his left and his son to his right. Riku sat next to Sobo and across from his mother, with Alice to his left.

Polite and subtle probing conversation filled the room, with Alice and Riku being mostly ignored. The talk mostly consisted of the latest and greatest in international politics and gossip. There was also the light scorn that was always present being directed to Riku's and Alice's mother for being a foreigner and marrying into the family.

Riku shifted in his seat slightly, resisting the urge to excuse himself to the bathroom. Dinner with his father's parents was always awkward and riddled with unspoken tension. He really had no clue as to how his father grew up with Sobo and Sofu without turning out exactly like him, but he would never ask. His father clearly loved his parents, but didn't like speaking about growing up under them.

He glanced at his sister and nearly rolled his eyes at her zoned out look. It really was a wonder she survived these things. He turned back to stare at his plate and sighed inaudibly in relief when a servant took his plate and Sofu stood, indicating the end of the meal. Riku followed the other's example and also stood, hiding his wince as his knees protested to finally straightening up.

Following his family back out to the entrance hall, Riku waited for the goodbyes that they unfortunately had to go through. His grandparents briefly mentioned, and he was faintly horrified at hearing about a 'little dinner party' his grandparents would be holding before school started back up. His hopes for missing it were dashed when his grandfather turned to him and held out his hand, saying:

"There will also be plenty of people your age to mingle with, Riku. I'll be sure to introduce you to someone." Riku swallowed his grimace and politely thanked his Sofu and Sobo for the dinner and the invitation to the dining party. He made a face at his parents as they turned their attentions to Alice, nearly laughing at the face his father sent back.

The Ikuma family said their goodbyes and left the mansion, collectively sighing in relief and slumping their shoulders.

"Well, that wasn't too bad." Mrs. Ikuma told her children, offering them a smile.

"Yeah, if you don't count the order to show up at their dinner party, it was wonderful." Riku said, stretching his arms above his head. Mr. Ikuma laughed and flung an arm around his son's shoulders.

"I'm sure you'll survive Son."

"You are old, Father, And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head - Do you think, at your age, it is right?" Riku replied with a roll of his eyes while his family turned to stare at him in shock. "What? Is there something on my face?" He asked after a moment before Alice mercilessly tackled him into a huge bear hug.

"I can't believe it! That's the first wonderland joke you've made since we moved here. If I'd known visiting Sofu and Sobo would cure you then…well, maybe not. I'd never _willingly_ visit them, but still, that's beside the point. You're finally cured!" Alice exclaimed happily. Laughing, Riku disentangled his sister's arms from around him.

"Let go Alice or I'll die from lack of oxygen. You've already tried to crush my ribcage once today." Finally getting her off of himself, Riku glanced over at his parents who were smiling at him.

"I'm glad to see your back to your old self Riku, but what's with that choice of quote? Are you calling me insane?" Mr. Ikuma asked as he ruffled his son's hair fondly.

"Ha! You have to be if you think I'm going to survive Sofu's dinner party unscathed." Riku replied, elbowing his dad lightly.

"He's got a point there Dear." Mrs. Ikuma admitted. Everyone looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. This is how it was supposed to be: one happy, laughing, dysfunctional family. Uncle would be in for a pleasant surprise when they got back.

* * *

><p><span>Japanese to English dictionary<span>:

Sofu: Grandfather

Sobo: Grandmother

Tennis Glossary

**deuce side**- also known as the even side, this is the right side of the court, and the side that you start serving on. Points served on this side are: 0-0, 15-15, 0-30, 30-0, 30-30, 15-40, 40-15 and duece.

**add side**- also known as the odd side, this is the left side of the court. Points served on this side are: 0-15, 15-0, 15-30, 30-15, 0-40, 40-0, and the advantage (ad) points when playing out a deuce.

**Choosing a court side rule**- before starting a match a racket is spun or a coin is flipped to decide who will serve first. However ends up being the reciever gets to choose which side of the court they want to start playing on.

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><p><strong>CHALLENGE QUESTION<br>**

No one won our previous challenge, but that's okay. Hopefully this contest/challenge will go a little bit better. Like last time to compete just send in your answers with a good review to this chapter. The winner will be notified with the posting of our next chapter.

Challenge: Guess how long our next chapter (6) will be. The person who is closest to the actual length wins. **We are looking for the closest number of words**. To help you out, here's the stats for the chapters we have posted so far (the number of words is from what Microsoft Word shows):

Ch1: 7pgs 4,344 words

Ch2: 10pgs 6,113 words

Ch3: 15pgs 9,396 words

Ch4: 18pgs 11,391 words

Ch5: 16pgs 9,735 words

Prize: A one-shot or drabble with a prompt of your choice.

Prize conditions:

-It has to be a Prince of Tennis fanfic.

-The highest rating we will allow is T.

-Absolutely no slash.

If you win:

-We will notify you and tell you what you need to send us for the one-shot/drabble

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><p>Well, there's chapter five for ya. We hope you all enjoyed reading it. We want to know what you think about our story, so make sure to leave us review.<p>

~The Splits


	6. A Play for Doubles

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~The Splits

**Chapter Six**

A Play for Doubles

"Hurry up Alice or we're going to be late." Riku said as he ran through the front gates of Yamabuki Chuu towards the tennis courts. Behind him Alice glared at his back. It was half his fault that they were late, not just hers. Rounding the corner, the two dashed towards the tennis courts that had come into view.

This being their first practice, they weren't sure how strict Banji would be about being on time, and they didn't want to learn that he had a bad side on their first morning of practice. Slowing down slightly, Riku waved at Sengoku who was standing by the tennis court gates waving at them.

"Hey Sengoku-san." Riku panted lightly as Alice came up behind him. "We're not late are we?"

"Nah, you're right on time, Banji's not too super strict about being right on time. If you're a minute or two late he won't kill you." Sengoku said in his carefree way. "Hey there Alice-chan." He said, smiling widely at her.

"Morning Lucky-san." Alice said as she walked passed him into the courts leaving Riku to deal with Sengoku's confused look.

"Lucky-san? She had mentioned that the other day, but I-"

"Alice is bad at remembering names," Riku interrupted, "so she gives people easy to remember nicknames. Since you say lucky all the time you're Lucky-san." Riku said with a shrug as he too walked passed Sengoku. "So where's Banji? Practice is supposed to start right about now isn't it?"

"I'm right here Ikuma-kun." A kind voice said from behind the two. "It's a good thing you're here on time. Contrary to the belief of some," he said nudging Sengoku, "I don't appreciate people being late. You've been here for a while now; you should know that by now Sengoku-kun."

"Ah, you heard that Banji? Unlucky." Sengoku complained as Riku joined Alice and set his bag down next to the fence were they were joined by The Jimmies, Minami Kentarou and Higashitaka Masami.

"Is Lucky-san always like that?" Alice asked as she pulled out her racket.

"Lucky-san?" the two said in confusion.

"She means Sengoku-san." Riku clarified, pulling out his own racket and adjusting the strings. Understanding appeared on the captain and vice captain's faces as they glanced over at the orange haired boy.

"Yeah, that's typical Sengoku for you." Minami-buchou said turning back to the twins. "You'll get used to it. So, are you two ready for your first day of regular practice?"

"We'll know the answer to that soon enough, won't we?" Alice said as she slipped on her purple wristbands. The captain stared at her for a moment before smirking. This girl was interesting for sure.

"I suppose you're right." He replied.

"Looks like Banji's done dealing with Sengoku. Let's go gather up so we can find out what the plan for practice today is." Higashitaka-fukubuchou cut in.

"You guys go ahead; I'll go grab the others." Minami-buchou said as he walked off to tell the others to gather up. Shrugging, Alice and Riku followed after their fukubuchou toward Banji.

"So, you two are new around here." It wasn't a question. "How long have you been in the area?"

"We arrived about two weeks ago from Italy." Alice replied.

"Really? Italy? What caused you to move all the way here to Japan?" Higashitaka-fukubuchou asked with sincere curiosity.

"Our dad's job, among other things." Riku replied with a slight annoyance in his voice which he tried to keep to a minimum. He was finally starting to adjust, and didn't want to put himself back into a bad mood by dwelling on the negative. Higashitaka was about to ask another question, but was cut off as the rest of the regulars had gathered around and Banji began speaking.

"I'm glad the seven of you all made it here without problems. Today is a shorter practice with us meeting here at ten, but starting tomorrow I want to see you here at seven in the morning, and _don't_ be late." He said glancing at Sengoku.

"Ah come on Banji. It's not like I was late today." Sengoku complained, but Banji went on talking like he hadn't heard him. He was used to dealing with Sengoku and his ways by now.

"Now, for practice today we need to decide on positions. I assume that Minami-kun and Higashitaka-kun wish to play doubles, and I guess that Sengoku-kun and Touji-kun want to stick to singles. Am I right?" Four heads nodded an affirmative to Banji's words. Smiling and nodding to them, Banji turned to his three remaining players Alice, Riku, and Nishikiori-kun.

"Now, there's one singles spot left and a doubles spot. Do any of the three of you want to try teaming up to play doubles or do I need to experiment around?"

"We play doubles." Alice and Riku responded swiftly and in sync before Nishikiori could even open his mouth. They didn't want their chance at doubles to be blown just because they didn't speak up fast enough.

"Really? I was wondering about that," Banji said smiling and nodding, "since you two are twins and all. I guess that leaves you to fill the last singles spot if you're alright with that Nishikiori-kun."

"Uh, yeah." He responded tearing his eyes away from Alice and Riku to look at Banji. He'd known the two were related, but he hadn't heard they were twins. It made sense; though, with how close in age they looked. "Singles is fine with me."

"Good, that solves several problems for me then. Now we just need to decide your positions within singles and doubles. Nishikiori-kun, Touji-kun I want you two to play a match. Sengoku-kun you'll be the referee for them."

"Got it Banji." Sengoku said as he threw his arms around the two. "I play winner right?"

"Exactly. Then, while that's going on I'll be the judge for the match between Ikuma-taichi and The Jimmies."

"Banji! Don't call us The Jimmies!" Minami and Higashitaka shouted indignantly. They weren't sure where that nickname had come from, but they absolutely hated it.

"Oh, my bad, my bad." Banji said complacently, holding up his arms in defense.

"Unlucky." Sengoku complained. "I won't get to see Alice-chan play." Rubbing the back of his head with his hand Sengoku sighed. Patting him on the back, Banji smiled.

"There's a reason I asked you to referee the match between Nishikiori-kun and Touji-kun." At this Sengoku tensed slightly before grinning sheepishly down at his coach.

"Banji." Ignoring Sengoku, Banji turned to the rest of the regulars.

"Let's get started then. We don't know how long the matches will take, and I'd like to get some practice in afterwards if possible."

*%%*

"_So, are we still going to hold back or is it okay to play full out now?_" Riku asked as he and Alice stood talking for a minute to come up with a plan for the match since they'd just finished their warm-up. Glancing over at The Jimmies who were doing the same thing, Alice shifted a string on the gut of her racket.

"_Why in the world would we hold back now Riku? What a preposterous idea._" Alice said sarcastically as she flipped back a lock of hair from her face. Riku threw his sister a look before smirking. This was going to be fun.

"_So, if we win the spin you'll be serving first?_" he asked.

"_Actually, let's have you serve first. That way by the time the game is really going it'll be you up at the net when I serve, and not the other way around._"

"_Excellent._" Riku said with a grin as the two walked towards the net where The Jimmies were now waiting.

"Are you two ready?" Minami-buchou asked after giving the two a quick look. Higashitaka had told him that the twins were from Italy, but actually catching the end of their conversation, in what he could only logically guess was Italian, really sent the fact home.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Alice responded, and Riku nodded in agreement.

"Do you want smooth or rough?" Higashitaka-fukubuchou asked as he set the head of his racket against the court.

"We'll call smooth." Riku said as Higashitaka nodded and set his racket spinning. After spinning for several seconds the racket finally fell over. Bending over Higashitaka picked it up.

"It's smooth." He said.

"We'll serve." Alice said taking the balls from Minami-buchou, who indicated they'd stay on the side they were on.

"Good luck you two." He said before they left the net. "You're new around here so you probably don't know, but we're a nationally ranked pair, so don't feel too bad if you lose to us."

Riku and Alice's eyes widened slightly, they already knew this, but Alice had figured it would be better to pretend that they didn't because if they combined it with the fact that no one figured that they could beat The Jimmies, it might just get them to start off easy on Riku and Alice- which they would take full advantage of if they did.

"That's pretty amazing isn't it? I guess we'll just have to keep that in mind." Alice said somewhat calmly as she reigned in her fake surprise. The looks on The Jimmies faces showed that the looks of shock and surprise on her's and Riku's faces hadn't gone unnoticed. So far so good. Turning, Alice handed the balls to Riku who pocketed two of the three before following Alice away from the net.

"_Hold back and I'll kill you. This is a good chance. It's not every day we get to play such a good doubles pair._" Alice said quietly, but she made sure her voice was actually loud enough for The Jimmies to hear as she made it sound both cautious and nervous. They couldn't understand what she was saying, but they'd understand the tone for sure, so why not have a little fun and make them think that their status as nationally ranked players had gotten to them.

"_As if I'd hold back now, and I'm guessing by the tone you've set that I should act a little uncertain right?_" Riku responded quietly, mimicking Alice's tone as he walked passed her and took his spot behind the baseline. Not hearing anything back from her, he figured that he'd guessed right on what he was supposed to do. Checking the opposing court, Riku saw that The Jimmies had set up with Minami-buchou receiving and Higashitaka-fukubuchou at the net. From the warm-ups Riku knew that both of them were very solid players with good strokes and form, similar to Alice.

Sitting in the umpire's seat, Banji called for the start of the game. Bouncing the ball up and down several times, Riku threw an uncertain look at The Jimmies before gritting his teeth and tossing the ball up into the air, tracing it with his left hand. As the ball began its decent Riku's right arm came up with his racket and slammed into the ball, brushing down the right side to load the ball with topspin.

Flying past Alice, the ball dropped into the service box and bounced away to the side from its spin forcing Minami to run out past the alley to return it with a topspin forehand that headed straight towards Alice. Volleying the ball Alice hoped to end the point, but was disappointed as Higashitaka caught the ball with his racket before it could hit the ground and volleyed it back out of Alice's reach.

"Riku." She called, faking nervousness, but he was already on it, like she'd known he would be. Setting his feet, Riku waited as the ball bounced back towards him. As his racket connected with the ball, Riku brought his racket almost straight up, sending the ball back as a lob over Higashitaka's head.

Looking up at the ball Higashitaka shouted "Switch" and ran to the left side of the court as Minami ran to the right to return Riku's lob with a backhand aimed down the center of the court, but Alice was waiting for it and took the ball in the air with a sharp volley. Flicking her wrist as she came in contact, Alice sent the ball careening sharply to the side where it hit in the doubles alley close to the net on The Jimmies' side of the court.

The Jimmies could only watch as the ball bounced twice. Neither of them had had even a chance of reaching it in time. Glancing at Alice who looked surprised that she'd pulled off such a good shot even though she really wasn't, The Jimmies looked at each other and nodded. The twins were nothing but a bundle of nerves since hearing they were nationally ranked players, and a lucky shot like that was unlikely to happen again.

"Nice shot Alice." Riku said, fake awe coating his voice as he moved to the other side to serve. Taking note of Higashitaka's position behind the baseline, closer to the doubles alley, and Minami's position at the net, Riku tossed the ball up and slightly farther in front of him than the last serve. Alice's 'lucky' shot would allow him to show a moment of confidence while he served. Stretching his arm up to its full reach, Riku brought his racket straight down on the ball, stepping through with his right foot as the ball whizzed down the center line and struck the box near the inside corner.

Frowning, Higashitaka caught the ball with a solid, two-handed backhand that sent the ball to the right. Taking the ball in the air, Alice volleyed it to the left where it sped past Minami-buchou, but Higashitaka came up from the baseline to backhand the ball down the left sideline.

Running two steps to the left, Riku hit a sharply angled, crosscourt backhand. Minami stepped over to poach the ball, but as it reached the net, the ball nicked it, changing its course slightly so it missed the sweet spot on Minami's racket and popped back over onto Riku and Alice's side.

Taking several steps back, Alice traced the ball's decent with her left hand, bringing her racket up to prepare for a smash which she sent down the right side alley. Higashitaka caught up with the ball, but was disappointed as his forehand smacked into the net inches below the tape.

"Hmm…you two aren't half bad." He said as he straightened up and fixed his strings. "That was a good smash just now Ikuma-san."

"Really? Thank you so much for the compliment Higashitaka-fukubuchou. And, you know you can call me Alice-san right? That way it's less confusing for Riku and me." Alice replied as she smiled sweetly yet uncertainly at him. From behind her, Riku had to use all his restraint to not laugh or pull a face. Alice really would kill him if he messed up her psych play, although Higashitaka-fukubuchou didn't seem too affected by her manner, but… Glancing at Minmai-buchou, Riku had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from smirking. Looking down, he pretended to be interested in his racket as he walked to the service position. On the captain's face was a light blush.

Having set up for the next point, Alice had to keep the interested look out of her eyes. So, the captain has a soft spot for sweet smiles? Not what she would have guessed, but that didn't matter. If she could, she'd definitely find a way to use it against him before this match was over. She'd have to think fast though; because once The Jimmies got serious she doubted a smile would affect the captain much at all. Behind her, Riku took a few deep breaths to refocus himself before looking up at the court. Everyone was in position and ready for the next point.

"Thirty-love." Riku called before tossing the ball up and serving. Another rally ensued with Riku and Minami exchanging shots from the baseline before Higashitaka poached on one of Riku's shots and took the point with a well-placed volley. Alice allowed a small pout to adorn her face for a split second, but it was enough to make Minami-buchou shift slightly. Some reaction, but no permanent effect…she'd have to try a different route then. She didn't really expect this low level of psych play to have much effect in the first place though.

On his next serve, Riku missed with the first ball, which The Jimmies took as a sign that Higashitaka's volley had gotten to him, but Riku's second serve landed solidly in the box. Higashitaka returned the shot with a forehand that Alice caught with a volley, but her volley in turn was caught by Minami.

Dancing on his toes at the baseline, Riku was ready to dash at a moment's notice. The net was his specialty, not Alice's, and he had a feeling that Minami-buchou would get the ball passed her, which sure enough, he did. Racing to the right, Riku went to lob the ball over Minami's head, but he screwed up and the lob wasn't high enough. Minami smirked before jumping up to smash the ball.

"Thanks for the easy point." He said, but as he brought his arm down, he glimpsed Alice out of the corner of his eye, and the look on her face- one that seemed quite sinister- made him falter ever so slightly, so that what should have been an easy smash, smacked into the court just passed the baseline.

"Out." Riku called as he watched the ball bounce into the fence before going to retrieve it. He'd seen Minami's body tense ever so slightly, and knew that it had to be Alice's doing somehow.

"Sorry Higashitaka." Minami said as he walked up to his partner. "I guess I got ahead of myself there."

"It's alright, but you seem kinda tense. You okay?" Higashitaka asked with some concern. It wasn't like Minami to miss such an easy smash.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a small slip-up. I won't let it happen again." Minami said with assurance. "Let's go get that point back."

"Sounds good to me." Higashitaka replied, relieved to know his partner was fine, but from his seat up in the umpire chair, Banji had seen everything, and a small furrow appeared on his brow as he looked closely at Alice. Something was up, and he for some reason had the feeling that she was behind it.

From where she stood sharing a few words with Riku between points while The Jimmies exchanged a few words themselves, Alice had the feeling of someone watching her. Resisting the temptation to turn around, she finished talking to Riku. "_Let's wrap this game up right here. The Jimmies haven't become fully serious yet, and it would be a good idea to get a game or two ahead while we can. Also,_" Alice said pointing to the spot where Minami's smash had hit, "_look where the last ball hit with a relieved look on your face._"

"_Got it._" Riku replied in a relieved tone as he nodded to the spot. He even bothered to wipe his brow with the back of his hand to add to the act since he could tell The Jimmies kept glancing at them while they were talking. Alice threw him a smile before they moved off to their positions. Letting out a deep breath, Riku sighed. If Alice wanted the game over right now, he'd use _that_ serve.

Bouncing the ball up and down, up and down, Riku caught it firmly in his left hand. "Forty-fifteen." He called as the ball flew up into the air. Bringing his racket up, Riku brushed it across the ball from right to left, bringing it down the left side. Zipping through the air, the ball bounced in the service box and off to the outside as Minami chased it down. Hitting the ball with a topspin forehand, a look of confusion crossed Minami's face as the ball left his racket.

Poaching expertly, Alice put the ball away before Minami could recover. Walking up to Riku, Alice high-fived him with a 'can you believe that shot just now' grin on her face before the two headed to the bench to grab a quick drink before switching sides.

Riku tried to talk to Alice, but she silenced him with a look. The Jimmies were walking over, and she wanted to hear what they were saying to judge how the first game had affected them. "_Just talk to me in Italian about something unimportant so I can pay attention to their conversation._" She instructed. Nodding his head, Riku began talking about their last tennis practice. He figured he should at least keep the talk somewhat relevant. Making sure she looked like she was engaged in what Riku was saying by facing him and nodding her head, Alice was really looking passed him to The Jimmies.

"What happened with that last return?" Higashitaka asked as reached their bench.

"I don't know. There was something weird about it, but I can't put my finger on it." Minami admitted as he accepted his water bottle from his partner.

"If you haven't noticed, everything about Ikuma, er, Riku-san's game is weird. One look at his form when he hits and you can tell that much." Higashitaka retorted. Really, how any of Riku's shots made it over the net was a mystery to him.

"That's not what I meant. Ugh, I don't know how to explain it, but if he does it to you the next time he serves, you'll know what I'm talking about." Minami said in slight frustration. "It's strange though, for looking so nervous, they're doing pretty well. They had some lucky shots I suppose, but still…" he trailed off, glancing at the twins who were engaged in a one-sided conversation by Riku. He really wished he could tell what they were saying, but it looked like the twins mainly spoke Italian while on the courts.

"I have to agree with you there." Higashitaka said with a nod of his head after he put his water down. "I'm not sure what's up, but something is definitely up, and I think we need to start getting a bit more serious. We wouldn't want to start looking bad just because we were careless."

Thinking over what she was hearing Alice took a final mouthful of water before speaking to Riku, cutting of his monologue. "_Looks like this method won't hold much longer. They're onto us already. Be ready to go full out when I give the signal. Let's go get the next game started before they have time to talk anything else over._" Nodding, Riku set his water down then picked up his racket and the balls. Walking over, he held out his hand to give the balls to Minami who took them.

"Here are the balls." Riku said, walking off to join Alice again before they could say anything. He, too, had heard them talking and would rather not have them ask questions about his last serve right now. After all, the match was far from over, and he might just need to use it again.

"_Do you want to receive forehand or backhand today?_" Alice asked as they stopped in the center of their side of the court.

"_I'm feeling good either way. What about you?_" Riku asked back as he watched The Jimmies stand up and move onto the court. It looked like Higashitaka-fukubochou would be serving first for the two of them.

"_I'll take forehand._" Alice replied as she walked back towards the baseline. Nodding, Riku took his position on the left half of the service line. Standing just behind the line, Riku leaned forward onto his toes, and turned his head to the side so he could watch the line and call any serves that landed out. Across the court, Higashitaka bounced the ball several times before gripping it tightly. He glanced around, looking at Minami last before nodding slightly.

"Game count love-one, love-all points." He called before tossing the ball up into the air. He served the ball deep into the service box with a slight topspin to it. Taking a half-step to the left to adjust, Alice returned it with a shallower crosscourt shot just out of Minami's reach. Running up, Higashitaka caught the ball with a short-swing forehand sending it back over the net where Riku intercepted it with a backhand volley that headed down the centerline. Turning, Minami ran back and caught the ball with an awkward forehand shot that sped past Riku.

"Alice." Riku called, but it was no good. The ball took its second bounce long before Alice could get to it.

"Sorry Riku." Alice said as she walked up from the baseline.

"Don't worry about it. I know you've got my back." He replied, clapping his hand on her shoulder momentarily. "_Your return was a bit too shallow there. Is Higashitaka-fukubucho's serve too difficult to deal with?_" Riku whispered. Even though he was talking in Italian, he didn't want The Jimmies to catch on that something might be up on their side.

"_It's not a difficult serve, but he was holding back quite a bit when we warmed them up. The spin was good too._" Alice whispered back as Riku took his hand off her shoulder and walked back to the baseline to get ready to receive while she set up on the right side of the service line.

Shifting her weight from foot-to-foot, Alice kept a close eye on The Jimmies as Higashitaka got ready to serve. Before serving, Alice noticed that Higashitaka glanced at Minami. He'd done that on the last point too. Narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion, her attention was drawn back to the game as the ball flew over the net. Right after serving, Higashitaka rushed the net to join Minami, forming a wall. Unable to adjust his shot in time, Riku hit the ball straight at Higashitaka who ended the point with a swift volley.

"_Looks like it's my turn to say sorry._" Riku said as he passed Alice to take his place behind the service line while she went back to receive.

"_I'm not positive, but I think they're using signs Riku._ _Be careful._" Alice warned, ignoring the apology, as she set up to receive. She made sure her voice sounded neutral. The Jimmies may have started catching on, but that didn't mean they should stop what they'd been doing. That would be the worst mistake they could make. When the timing was right, she'd have the two of them switch things up a bit, but not quite yet.

"_Really? That's annoying._" Riku replied as a smirk played on his lips which he hid by glancing down momentarily. They'd played a match in Italy against a pair that liked to use signs, so he knew what to look for to see if Alice's suspicion was right. Sure enough, Minami's hand disappeared behind his back for a moment before Higashitaka served, and the vice-captain's head nodded almost imperceptibly. Yep, they were definitely using signs to dictate their play.

The second Riku could see the serve was landing in he turned his attention to The Jimmies. He knew Alice would return the serve, and by watching his opponents he'd be able to tell where the ball was going. When Minami didn't make a move, Riku knew the ball was headed back in a crosscourt to Higashitaka. Rushing the net, Riku took Higashitaka's return with a volley which he aimed at Minami's feet, taking the captain by surprise and winning the point.

"Heh, not bad Riku-san." Minami said as he pulled himself back together. There was obviously more to these two than they originally let on.

"Thanks."

"_Riku, pretend I'm saying something important about the captain, and then nod at the places I'm looking to_." Alice said as she came up behind Riku. Turning, she glanced at the captain while talking about something unimportant, and then she looked at several spots around the court at which Riku nodded. And the mind games continued as a confused look crossed the captain's face.

"_So basically we're using the language barrier to confuse them now? Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense._" Riku quoted with a smirk, catching onto his sister's new plan. Even he could tell their old façade was falling apart, so why bother pretending anymore in his opinion. "_I'm guessing you planned this from the beginning then?_"

"_I'd worry your brain had stopped functioning if you couldn't at least figure out that much._" Alice replied with a roll of her eyes. Throwing his sister a look, Riku shook his head and walked away. He wasn't about to waste his breath arguing over something pointless.

Once everyone was in position with Riku receiving, Higashitaka called out the score before looking at Minami and serving.

"Thirty-fifteen." The next point went to The Jimmies thanks to a down the line forehand from Higashitaka, but Alice stole the point back with a well-placed backhand making the score 40-30 for The Jimmies. On the following point, Minami put away a smash from a lob Riku was forced to hit, taking the game.

"Game count: one game all." Banji called. This match was turning out to be more than he'd expected and it was only the end of the second game. It would be interesting to see where the match went from here, he thought as he watched Higashitaka pass Alice the balls so she could serve.

"Love-all." Alice said as she tossed the ball up. Using her precision, she sent the ball into the outside corner. Minami sent the ball back with plenty of topspin. Riku didn't move from his spot as the shot went by. It was better for Alice to take that one because of the spin which would make it bounce off his racket awkwardly if he screwed up even just a little bit on his volley.

Watching as Higashitaka began to move, Riku smirked. It was time to see if their fukubuchou was any good at a volley battle. Catching Higashitaka's return with his racket, Riku sent it right back at him, a challenging gleam in his eye. Seeing Riku's eyes, Higashitaka's eyes hardened. So, they _had _been holding back all along. Well, that didn't change the fact that he wasn't about to lose a volley battle.

Volley returned volley as the two went back and forth while Minami and Alice watched from the baseline, ready to chase after any ball their partner might miss. After each side had hit several volleys, Alice called out to her brother. "_I thought I told you I'd kill you if you held back. Do you want to die?_"

Holding back the urge to roll his eyes, Riku threw a heavy slice onto his next volley. Higashitaka's eyes widened in surprise as the ball popped off his racket and up into the air. Falling back a step, Riku launched into the air, and smashed his racket into the ball.

"_Getting a bit impatient are we?_" He asked, turning around to raise an eyebrow at his twin.

"_Sentence first—verdict afterwards._" She retorted with one of her favorite quotes from _Alice in Wonderland_. Smirking at the familiar reference, Riku went and took his position, glancing at The Jimmies as he did so. Besides the fact that they now knew Alice and Riku had been holding back, it was pretty obvious they felt uneasy not knowing what he and Alice were saying, but they were about to feel a lot more insecure since The Queen of Hearts had just arrived in the form of Alice.

"Fifteen-love." Alice said coolly as she served, all pretenses long forgotten. The ball hit where the service line and midline intersected before zipping passed Higashitaka's racket and taking its second bounce. The Jimmies stared at the ball for a moment before whipping their heads around at the sound of a bouncing ball. Alice and Riku had already set up for the next point, and Alice was now bouncing the ball up and down impatiently. Glancing at Riku, the two had to suppress a shudder at the maddening smirk now adorning his face. They weren't sure what had happened, but it looked like things were about to get a whole lot harder for them.

Settling into the receiving position, Minami gripped his racket tightly. He wasn't going to let the twin's games get to him if he had anything to say about it.

"Thirty-love." Alice called before placing a serve deep into the corner. Backing up to return the serve, Minami hit a strong forehand down the line, figuring on getting a return ace, but his plan was foiled by a redhead flying in from the side. Riku, the moment Alice had served, had darted across the court while she traded sides in the back, so he was already in position to softly volley the ball right past Higashitaka where it quickly took its second bounce.

Turning around, Riku met Alice's eyes. Her chin inclined ever so slightly while Riku's earlier smirk returned. There was no such thing as holding back anymore. The next point went to the twins, but Minami hit a cord ball that won The Jimmies a point making the score 40-15 for Alice and Riku.

Using her accuracy to the fullest on the next point, Alice kept the balls just out of Minami's reach while Higashitaka was forced to run from side to side along the baseline to get the ball, and every time Riku intercepted the ball he placed a heavy spin on it, making it difficult to return. Tiring of the rally, Riku used a sharp slice to bounce the ball under Minami's racket where it barely rose at all before falling back down to hit the court again.

"Game to Ikuma-taichi. Two games to one." Banji called. Looking over at the other court, he could see that the first singles match was almost over with Touji winning 4-1. Either their match was progressing very quickly, or this doubles match was taking longer than Banji had realized even though they'd only played three games so far. Honestly, Banji had figured The Jimmies would easily take the match even though Alice and Riku might get a game or two, but this… In the last few points, something had changed drastically on the twin's side of the court, and with it the flow of the match. Watching as his players changed courts, Banji frowned in thought.

*%%*

"Looks like it's time to use that strategy." Minami said as he glanced over at the twins. "I'm not sure what's going on here, but unless we get serious right now I think we'll be in trouble."

"I have to agree with you there. I didn't think they'd be this good, but it's time to show them why we're a nationally ranked doubles pair." Higashitaka replied as he got up from the bench. Before going to get the balls from Alice, he leaned in close and whispered something in Minami's ear, who smirked and nodded at him in agreement. After Minami took the balls from Alice, all four players stepped out onto the court and took up their positions with Riku and Higashitaka up at the net while Alice was back to receive with Minami serving.

Minami's serve zipped down the centerline, so that Alice had to use a backhand to return it. Intercepting the ball, Higashitaka volleyed it to the far right, out of Riku's reach, making Alice run along the baseline to get to the ball in time. Sending the ball down the line, Alice returned to the middle of the court while Minami and Higashitaka switched places as Minami chased the ball down, sending it right back down the line. Running back to the right Alice sent the ball back to Minami who in turn sent it back to her. Riku and Higashitaka could only watch as the two battled it out with straight shots that were so highly controlled, the ball never left the narrow doubles alley.

Eyes narrowing in annoyance, a light frown settled on Alice's face. She'd had enough of this. Sure she was stubborn, but she wasn't stupid. If she just kept hitting down the line like this, nothing was ever going to come of it. Did the captain really think she was just going to play along with his little game? It was obvious that they were trying to keep Riku out of this and focus on her. They probably thought she was the weaker link of their pair since she's a girl, but they were about to find out just how wrong they were.

"_I'm bored. This game has gotten old._" Alice said as she tightened the grip on her racket and set her feet. The Jimmies gave her a curious glance while ahead of her, Riku smirked. He knew where this was going, and he was ready for it. As Minami hit the ball back at her, a gleam came into Alice's eyes. "_I believe an execution would serve to liven things up around here, so sorry to say, but off with your head!_" Twisting her torso into the shot, Alice changed the direction of the ball, sending it straight towards the back of Riku's head.

The Jimmies couldn't help but smirk. They weren't sure what Alice had said, but it was obvious she'd cracked under the pressure of the one-on-one against Minami, and now Riku was going to pay for her mistake… Grinning at The Jimmies, Riku ducked at the last possible second, allowing the ball to whiz over his head and into the open part of their court where it bounced away into the fence. The Jimmies stared at Alice and Riku dumbstruck. That couldn't have been on purpose, could it? But the way the twins acted as they walked up to each other with smug grins and high-fived certainly didn't make it seem like a mistake…

Watching The Jimmies reactions, Alice and Riku felt a sense of satisfaction. "_What do you think Riku? Should I send them a queen's decree?_" Alice asked as she nonchalantly twirled a piece of hair around her fingers.

"_I thought you'd never ask._" Riku replied as a smirk crept onto his face again. Glancing at her brother, Alice shook her head lightly.

"_Honestly, you're mad as a hatter sometimes. You do know that right?_"

"_What's it matter? We're all mad around here._" Riku replied with a grin. Throwing Riku a look, Alice turned and took a step forward, calling out to The Jimmies.

"Hey Jimmies." She said coolly, her manner was that of a person who was uninterested in whatever lay before them.

"Don't call us that!" They shouted together. Acting as if they hadn't said anything, Alice continued speaking.

"I suggest you two start playing to the best of your abilities or we," she said as Riku walked up to stand next to her, "are going to run away with this match starting with that last point." Not waiting to see what they did, Alice turned and walked off to set up at her position on the service line while Riku gave them a dangerous smirk.

"I sure hope you have a good answer to that. If not…" he trailed off as he turned around to head back to the baseline to get ready to receive. Minami and Higashitaka glared at the twins before looking at each other. They shared a look before nodding. It was time to put these no names in their place. Going back, Minami served the ball hard and deep into the corner. The real match was only just beginning.

*%%*

"Four games all." Banji called as The Jimmies held their serve after having gone to deuce twice. This match really was beyond all expectations. The singles matches were all done with Touji beating Nishikiori 6-2 before then losing to Sengoku 1-6. The three had come over shortly after the sixth game of the doubles match had ended, tying the two pairs at three games apiece, and had been watching in amazement ever since. The last time they saw The Jimmies pushed this hard was last year at nationals.

"Whew." Sengoku whistled. "There's no telling who the winner's gonna be. Whadda you two think?" He asked as without taking his eyes of the court as Riku served.

"No clue." Touji responded as he watched Higashitaka scramble to reach a drop shot of Riku's that was loaded with slice. Even though he was the net player he couldn't make it in time. Watching, Touji was glad Riku had never pulled out that kind of spin against him.

"Who would have ever guessed Alice and Riku were this good?" Nishikiori said in awe as the next point was set up for and started. Riku's first serve landed out just barely, and Higashitaka wiped some sweat from his brow before falling back into the receiving position for Riku's second serve, which zipped down the center of the court. Chasing after it, Higashitaka returned it with an angled backhand towards the left which Alice caught with a short swing backhand, sending it straight across the net at Minami's body. Dodging just in time, the ball hit against the edge of his strings and popped up awkwardly.

Dropping back several steps, Alice smashed the ball at Minami's feet, satisfaction for the shot evident in her posture. The next several points were dragged into long rallies with each pair winning a point or two, making the score 40-30 for Alice and Riku.

Back at the baseline, Riku bounced the ball contemplatively. If things went well, this could be his last serve of the match, and he still hadn't bothered to try hitting Uncle's serve yet even though he'd been working on it for a while now. Throwing caution to the winds, Riku tossed the ball almost directly above his head. Bringing his racket up, he brushed it along the ball with a sweeping stroke that ended near his feet. Passing over the net, the ball hit the ground. Running to get it, Higashitaka was surprised as the ball took a strange bounce sending it passed him on the left side when he was set up for a forehand shot.

"Dang. I still can't get it to bounce the right way." Riku complained as he brought his racket up to rest on his shoulder, distaste on his face. Everyone glanced at him in surprise. It was the first time since he'd told The Jimmies they'd better have an answer for Alice's statement that he'd spoken in Japanese, and what was that about the bounce of the ball being wrong? Did he mean that crazy serve was a mistake? Taking in the strange looks around him, Riku raised an eyebrow.

"You spoke in Japanese." Alice explained with a sigh as she walked passed him towards their bench since they needed to change courts now and she wanted a drink.

"Huh, really? I did?" Riku said in confusion as he followed after his sister. "Well, whatever." He shrugged before plopping down onto the bench and grabbing his water bottle.

"_You're still speaking in Japanese, you dork._" Alice said with a roll of her eyes, ignoring the look Riku threw her. She really didn't care. Around the court, everyone was staring at Riku in disbelief except for Sengoku who was laughing and The Jimmies who were trying to recover a bit for the next game as they sat on their bench.

"What's so funny Sengoku-san?" Nishikiori asked as he looked over at his teammate.

"Riku-san told me before that he can't tell the difference between when he's speaking Japanese and Italian, but it's still just so funny." Sengoku replied as he tried to pull himself back together. "I mean, how can you not realize what language you're speaking?" Everyone who heard Sengoku had to agree. It was a bit…weird to not know what language you're speaking. While they were thinking on this, the tenth game started with Higashitaka serving.

"Four games to five, love-all points." He called as he tossed the ball up and served. Alice sent the ball back down the line, but Minami caught it with a backhand volley, sending it at Riku's feet. Bringing his racket around, Riku nicked the ball, but it hit into the net. He sent a quick look Minami's way before smirking. If that's how he's going to play…

Turning, Riku walked back to receive while Alice came up to the net. She watched as Minami's hand went behind his back again. It was starting to get on her nerves just how heavily those two relied on signs. For one, she couldn't see their signs so she had no way of determining what they were planning, and two, it was screwing up her psych play!

Eyes narrowing, Alice watched as the ball zipped passed her and hit into the service box. Hearing Riku make contact, she watched as Minami began to move. Stupid Riku. Was he trying to make things harder for her by purposely hitting to the other team's net player? Annoyed, Alice caught Minami's volley and returned it with a sharp short swing backhand that flew passed his head. Behind him, Higashitaka caught up with the ball and returned it deep towards the left side. Chasing down the ball, Riku lifted his racket and swiftly brought it down on the underside of the ball. He grinned as it barely cleared the net before dropping and taking a quick second bounce.

"_Nice slice, but what was up with you returning the ball straight to buchou? Are you trying to make my life harder?_" Alice asked sarcastically as she walked passed her brother.

"_Heh, I thought you enjoyed a good challenge. Am I wrong?_" Riku inquired with an eyebrow raised and a smirk toying on his lips. Glaring at Riku for a moment, Alice rolled her eyes before dropping into the receiving position as Riku did the same at the service line.

"_I should have you beheaded for your insolence, but seeing as you're my partne,r I'll let you live for now. Later is a different matter though._" Alice said as Higashitaka served. She returned the ball with a deep crosscourt, and yet another long rally ensued with shots being taken by all four of the players.

The same thing happened on the following points until the game was tied at deuce. Wiping some sweat from his eyes, Riku grinned. All they had to do was win this deuce and the match was over.

"_Let's end this here. This match has gone on way too long. You're starting to slow down, and I'm getting pretty tired myself._" Riku looked over at Alice and nodded. She was right of course. He couldn't run as fast as usual and even she was breathing hard. It really would be best to end things here.

Wiping more sweat from his forehead, Riku took his place at the service line. Normally he'd be alright even if they lost the deuce and had to keep playing, but this match really was turning into a beast. The last time he'd checked the time they'd been playing for an hour and a half, which for a one set match is ridiculous, but so many of their points had been drawn out that it made sense. If they couldn't take the match right here though, there could be trouble. The Jimmies title as nationally ranked players obviously wasn't for nothing, as Alice and Riku had learned firsthand. The Jimmies were good. Really good. It had been a long time since Riku had seen Alice so satisfied with a match.

"Deuce." Higashitaka called as he served. Alice went with a cross court return, but she didn't get enough angle on it, so Minami stepped over and poached the ball. Taking the ball in midair, Riku volleyed it right back at him. The two traded several shots before Riku finally got one past Minami. Higashitaka ran up and caught the ball on the edge of his racket, popping it up into the air. Alice and Riku both looked up at the ball and didn't move as they watched it bounce out of bounds. One more point.

"Ad out." Higashitaka's next serve was deep and hard to the outside corner, drawing Riku off the court. He tried to send it back down the line, but couldn't angle it enough, giving Minami the perfect shot to put the ball away with a volley.

"_Sorry Alice._" She merely shook her head lightly. That serve had been surprisingly hard and accurate for this late in the match. She just hoped it was a fluke.

"Deuce." The next point turned into another agonizingly long rally with Alice and Higashitaka exchanging shots from the baseline while Riku and Mianmi tried to intercept them at the net unsuccessfully. Eventually, the point went to The Jimmies as Alice's last shot hit grazed the top of the net, bounced off it, and landed just outside the doubles alley. "Ad in." Higashitaka called. Alice and Riku both gritted their teeth. If The Jimmies won this point they'd have to either win two games in a row or go to a tiebreak in order to win.

Shifting his weight from foot-to-foot, Riku waited for the serve which came right down the centerline. Riku sent the ball back loaded with topspin from his forehand shot so that the ball just barely cleared the center of the net. Minami tried to volley, but the ball missed the sweet spot on his racket, and popped up awkwardly. Falling back two steps, Alice smashed the ball deep, but Higashitaka was there and returned it with a sharp backhand down the line.

"Riku!" Alice shouted as she ran to the left while he went right to chase the ball down. Barely reaching the ball in time, Riku sent it back with an extremely off balance crosscourt forehand which Minami picked off and sent passed Alice down the left side of the court.

"Game to The Jimmies-"

"Banji!"

"Oops, I mean, game to Minami and Higashitaka, five games all." Banji corrected as The Jimmies high fived each other. They'd just dodged a bullet with that game. On the other side of the court, Alice walked over to Riku who was busy retying his shoe.

"_I can't believe I'm saying this,_" she began, "_but, I think we might be in trouble._" Finishing tying his shoes, Riku wiped his forehead off on the sleeve of his shirt.

"_It's not over yet, but I do agree with the troublesome part. At least we know The Jimmies are tired, just like us._" Riku replied as he got back on his feet. "_It's your serve now, so let's give them everything we've got. I might be tired, but don't count me down and out._" Wiping the handle of his racket off on the bottom of his shirt, Riku threw Alice a lopsided grin.

"_Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. Is that it?_" A glint was slowly coming back into Alice's eyes.

"_Exactly. It doesn't make sense to stop before the end, now does it?_"

"_Not in the slightest._" Alice replied to the rhetorical question as she flipped a stray piece of sweat dampened hair away from her face. So they lost that game. All they had to do was win two games in a row now, or take it to a tiebreaker and win there. This match was still far from being over.

"Here are the balls Alice-san." Higashitaka said as he hit them over the net. Alice called back her thanks as she caught two of the balls while the third one went Riku's way.

"_Do you want this, or should I hold onto it for you?_" He asked, holding out the ball in his hand. Alice glanced at the ball for a moment before motioning for him to keep it. She already had two, so she should be fine. Nodding, Riku slipped the ball into his pocket before heading up to the net.

"Five games all." Alice called out as she started her service game. Hitting the ball, she watched as it nicked the net and landed in the service box.

"Let." The Jimmies called out in unison as the ball bounced passed Minami. Nodding, Alice pulled out her second ball and bounced it a couple times.

"Take two." Her second serve smacked into the tape at the top of the next. Grimacing, Alice asked Riku for the third ball which he pulled out of his pocket and lightly hit to her with his racket. Tossing it up after a few bounces, Alice hit the ball. This time it went over and Minami returned it with a backhand down the line.

Another long rally ensued between Alice and Minami before Riku managed to cut in with a volley that ended the point. The Jimmies took the next two points in a row- one from an error Riku made and the other from a sharp crosscourt backhand from Higashitaka.

"Fifteen-Thirty." Alice called as she served to Higashitaka. He returned it, but Riku caught it with a swift poach and started a volley battle with Minami at the net. Finally slicing it past him, Riku brought his racket up and tapped it against his shoulder in satisfaction at the now tied score.

On the next serve, Minami sent it back with a deep crosscourt which Alice sent right back at him. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Minami launched a heavy down the line shot. Going after it, Riku suddenly pulled his racket away from the ball.

"Watch it Alice!" he called, turning his head to watch the ball. Chasing after it just to be safe, Alice saw as it hit, just missing the line.

"Out!" she called, pulling up short, panting. "Nice call Riku."

"Heh, right back at you." Panting a bit harder than Alice, Riku took up his position. From the baseline, Alice took a moment to look at The Jimmies. Buchou was obviously upset with the fact that his shot missed, but Fukubuchou was doing a good job of talking to him. They really needed to end this.

Serving, Alice winced as her serve slapped into the net. This wasn't good. She needed to focus right now. Taking a moment to inhale and exhale deeply, Alice stared intently at the spot she wanted to hit to before tossing up the second ball. The sound of it hitting the net a second time stung her ears. Was she really that tired?

"Alice-chan is looking pretty tired out there." Sengoku commented idly as he watched Riku gather up the balls from the net. "Riku-san's not looking too good either."

"True, but The Jimmies are in just as big a pinch." Touji pointed out as he looked at their number one doubles pair. This match was honestly ridiculous. To think that two no-names could cause them this much trouble- no one could have ever guessed the match would turn out like this. Just who were Alice and Riku, Touji couldn't help but wonder as he watched the two have another one of their exchanges in Italian.

"_Riku-_"

"_Don't. If you have something to say, tell it to me with your tennis, not your mouth._" Throwing his sister a smirk as he hit her the balls that had landed in the net, Riku couldn't help but worry. A double fault from Alice was never a good sign.

Sure enough, the next point went to The Jimmies making the score deuce. Trading off several shots in the following point, Higashitaka finally put the ball away with a smash.

"Ad out." Alice's next serve painted the line, leaving Higashitaka staring after it. Nodding, Alice moved to set up for the next serve. She and Riku couldn't afford to give The Jimmies this game. Taking another point from a sharp volley of Riku's racket, the twins shared a high-five.

"_Let's take this point right here._" Giving Alice a thumbs up at her words, Riku set up at the net. Unfortunately, Minami returned Alice's serve straight at Riku's face. Bringing up his racket in defense, the ball bounced off it awkwardly, landing a foot or two out of bounds. The next two points seemed to blur together for Riku and Alice, but all they knew as they watched the ball hit against the fence behind them was that they'd lost the game. They were now down 5-6 with hardly any energy left. The Jimmies shared a high-five before the two teams headed to their respective benches to get a drink before changing sides.

Collapsing onto the bench, Riku pulled out a spare water bottle and poured some of its contents over his head, allowing it coolness to wash over him. Glancing over at Alice, he extended the water bottle to her. Shaking her head, she pulled a towel from her bag and wiped off her face. The two were pretty silent. They knew each other well enough to know that talking now was pointless. They both knew what the situation was, and what needed to be done, so they might as well try and recover their breath instead of wasting it on useless words.

When their short break was over, Alice and Riku shared a look and nodded before standing up. Shouldering their rackets in sync, the two walked out onto the court.

"Ikuma-taichi sure do seem serious." Sengoku attempted to joke in order to lighten the oppressive feeling atmosphere. It didn't work.

"You could learn something from them Sengoku-kun." Banji said from the umpire's chair without taking his eyes off the court.

"Banji!"

*%%*

Dashing to the right, Riku caught the ball with a forehand, whipping his arm to send the ball sharply cross court where it was met by Minami. He backhanded it to the other side where Alice cut it off short, sending it towards Hiagshitaka's feet, who swiftly brought his racket around to catch the ball and return it, only for it to hit into the net.

"Deuce!" Minami called as he went to serve again, first stopping to wipe the sweat from his forehead onto the sleeve of his shirt.

"Just how many times are they going to go to deuce on this game?" Nishikiori wondered out loud. If he was keeping track right, this was their seventh deuce, and each point was only being won after a long and intense rally.

"Who knows?" Touji replied as he watched Higashitaka blast away at a shot. "All I know is even without Nitobe and Kita as regulars, we aren't going to have to worry about having a weak doubles two. Not with these two."

"Yeah…" Nishikiori trailed off. The Jimmies had just taken the point making it match point again.

*%%*

Panting heavily, Riku watched as Minami tossed the ball up to serve to him. As it came over the net, he ran up using a forehand to send it down the line. It zipped passed Higashitaka, but Minami called "switch" from the back as he ran over to cover while Higashitaka went to the other side of the court.

Up at the net, Alice stopped the shot with a volley, but it was returned by Higashitaka, and was sent speeding passed her. "Switch!" Riku yelled from behind as he ran to the right to get the ball while Alice went left. The ball crisscrossed over the net several times as shots were exchanged back and forth.

Running after a deep ball, Riku got his racket on it, popping up the ball. Time seemed to slow down as Alice and Riku could only watch numbly as Higashitaka jumped up and smashed the ball down in the open court. Hitting against the fence, the ball dropped and bounced several times before rolling and coming to a stop. The match was over.

The entire court seemed to freeze for a moment before the sound of clapping coming from the side of the court broke the silence. From the umpire seat, Banji was smiling down at the four exhausted players on the court. As if it broke them out of a trance, The Jimmies broke out into celebration with high-fives and shouting while on the other side of the court, Alice and Riku slowly walked towards each other.

"_I guess that's the match huh?_" Riku asked as he wiped his head on his sleeve.

"_Looks like it._" Alice replied with a soft sigh. Glancing at his twin, Riku raised an eyebrow.

"_You don't seem too sad._"

"_What can I say? It was interesting._" Alice threw her brother a smirk as he rolled his eyes at her answer. Typical Alice.

Tucking their rackets under their arms, the Ikuma twins met Higashitaka and Minami at the net and shook hands.

"That was an amazing game," Alice offered, smiling at the two.

Riku nodded his agreement. "You two really deserve your nationally ranked spot," he tacked on. The Jimmies, still smiling widely from the rush of winning such a hard game, chuckled and shrugged.

"You two gave us a run for our money, though," Minami said with Higashitaka murmuring his agreement. "I definitely didn't expect you two to be that good!" Alice and Riku glanced at each other and smirked.

"Thanks," The two said together. "We try," Alice added on at the end, winking at the two boys across from her.

The four players left the courts together and were immediately surrounded by Sengoku, Nishikiori, and Touji.

"Why didn't you tell me you could play this good?" Sengoku exclaimed, throwing his arms around Riku's and Alice's shoulders as the other two watchers congratulated The Jimmies on keeping their doubles one spot.

Riku shrugged his arm off, "It never came up."

"You still could have told me!"

Alice rolled her eyes and also shrugged Sengoku's arm off. "Why would we do that, Lucky-san?" Sengoku pouted, but conceded the argument. Besides mentioning that he was singles three and therefore the best singles player on the team, he hadn't really mentioned how good he was either, so really, he couldn't say anything.

"Anyway," Riku turned to the orange haired boy curiously, "how'd your games go?" Minami and Higashitaka heard the question and turned to hear the answer, throwing curious looks at the three singles players.

"Oh," Touji murmured in surprise, "we didn't tell you?" Sengoku sent him a 'duh' look while Riku and Alice shook their heads.

"Well," Touji continued, "Sengoku-san won overall, of course. He'll be playing singles three again."

"Congrats, Lucky-san." Alice offered, smiling at the orange haired boy. Sengoku blushed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, thanks Alice-chan." Nodding, Alice turned back to Touji and Nishikiori, wanting to hear where they got ranked.

"Well, Touji beat me, so he'll be singles two, and I'll be singles one," Nishikiori continued. Alice congratulated them while remembering that Nishikiori had been something of a manager and a reserve player last year. She was sincerely glad that he had made the team, he seemed like he deserved the position.

The players all continued to congratulate each other as they moved to the side of the fence where everyone's tennis bags were and began putting their rackets away.

"Hey Alice, check it out." Riku offered his cell phone to his twin, his brow furrowed.

"What is it?" she asked, taking the proffered phone.

"Just look." Sparing her brother a worried look, Alice flipped open his phone. Her eyebrows immediately rose as she looked at what was there.

"Seven missed calls from home? What in the world?" Riku shrugged and accepted the phone back.

"I'll call them back and find out." Nodding her agreement, Alice stretched and swung her arms around, wandering over to where the other players had all stopped to talk by the side street that ran near the tennis courts.

"What's up?" she asked them, following their eyes to a black, long looking car that was quite a ways down the road.

"We're trying to decide if that's a limo, or just a trick of the light," Minami told her. Alice gave them a weird look, wondering what drew boys to stare at cars, before shrugging and looking back down at the car.

"Looks like a limo to me," she told them, squinting slightly.

"It can't be," Touji immediately argued, "limos are never in this part of town." Alice shook her head and turned to the other boys.

"No, it's definitely a limo. I'd recognize one with how often I'm around them." The boys all exchanged curious looks before turning back to her.

"What do you mean, with how often you're around them?"

Giving her team mates a bewildered look, Alice gestured to herself, "You mean, you haven't realized who I am yet?" Before they could say anything, Alice stuck her tongue out and twirled to look at the much closer limo again.

"You'll just have to pay more attention then," she told them. Catching a bit of color waving on the side of the limo, Alice squinted again to get a better look.

"Hey, that looks like-"

"Alice!" Riku jerked his sister around and gave her a panicked look. "I just called Dad back and he said that we're going straight to Sofu's after practice!"

Alice threw her brother's hand off her shoulder and rubbed it, glaring at him. "So? We'll have to shower quickly at home then, big deal." Riku shook his head and gave her a desperate look.

"No, you don't get it! Sofu told Dad that he was sending a car to pick us up! And that was like, fifteen minutes ago! It should almost be here by now!" Riku's words sunk in, and a ball of horror sunk into Alice's stomach. Slowly she turned away from her brother and took a look at the limo again.

"Riku?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice, "Would you say that that limo's flag looks rather like the Ikuma family flag?" Riku's eyes widened in horror and he too looked at the car.

"Most definitely," he murmured.

"Wait, you two are a part of _the_ Ikuma family? What-" Alice cut Higashitaka off by jerking around and grabbing the front of his shirt in a fist, panic showing in her eyes.

"What girl's teams are practicing today?" she demanded, glaring up at him.

"Alice-chan, wha-"

"What teams?" she hissed, shaking him slightly. Higashitaka pointed a shaky finger at the distant soccer fields.

"The girls' soccer team should be-"

Alice was already sprinting off, shouting back to Riku, "I'm going to find some presentable clothes!"

Ignoring the limo for a second, which was now pulling up on the side of the road, Riku stared after his sister, half in awe and half disgusted. "I think she just beat my hundred meter dash time," he murmured to himself, determining that he would need to up his training after this. Shaking himself out, Riku took in a deep breath and turned around just in time to see his Sofu's butler open the back door to the limo and watch as his ever imposing Sofu stepped out of the car.

"Riku," Sofu greeted, completely ignoring the rest of the boys other than to give them an "I'm superior to you so don't bother me" look.

"Sofu," Riku bowed appropriately and took the time to send a soft prayer after his sister. They were royally screwed if she didn't show up, presentable and clean, in the next minute or so.

"I see that you've been working hard." Riku stood straight, and felt that he was standing at attention as his grandfather inspected him. "Good, good. Now," Sofu looked around and Riku tried to suppress his panic, "where is Suzume?"

* * *

><p><span>Tennis Glossary<span>

**Poach**- a poach is a move in doubles where the player at the net moves over and takes a shot that would normally go to the back player.

* * *

><p><strong>CHALLENGE QUESTION<br>**

So, asobi seksu was the winner for our last challenge, and she has already sent in what she wants for her prize, so look for that, coming soon. Like last time to compete this chapter's challenge, just send in your answers with a good review to this chapter. The winner will be notified with the posting of our next chapter.

Challenge: As I'm sure you all have somewhat figured out, we're making the Ikuma name a very big deal. Meaning: Alice and Riku are super rich. So, your challenge today is this: give us your best guess as to why Alice and Riku going to school at Yamabuki Chuu, when most rich kids go to Hyotei or Rikkaidai. The real explanation will be provided somewhere in ch7.

Prize: A one-shot or drabble with a prompt of your choice.

Prize conditions:

-It has to be a Prince of Tennis fanfic.

-The highest rating we will allow is T.

-Absolutely no slash.

If you win:

-We will notify you and tell you what you need to send us for the one-shot/drabble

* * *

><p>Well, there's chapter six for ya. We hope you all enjoyed reading it. We want to know what you think about how we wrote the tennis match, so make sure to leave us review.<p>

~The Splits


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